Naruto Shippuden: Raundosuri!
by Bear-Sama14
Summary: Sasuke is home now, and everything's all calm and dandy. Suddenly, when Naruto and the gang gets entangled in the newest village there is, the Village Hidden in the Music, known as Ongaku's tragic drama, it's their job along with others to all reach out a hand and help save all these people from the one man who's insane enough to cause their type of pain. Will it end by script? AU
1. Discovery

I ONLY OWN'S OC'S! INCLUDING WHATEVER ELSE IS MINE! MY APOLOGIES IF THE CHARACTERS ARE A BIT OOC!

Lady Tsunade sat at her desk reading over the report she received of recent news from Konohamaru's team about their mission. Slowly, as if in a trance, her slender fingers reached over to the smooth surface of the handle attached to the white mug, and brought it to her plump lips. Taking a sip of the warm apple cider, she continued to think about the progress of the village. So far, things were at an okay status. Lady Tsunade felt a presence at the door that she immediately recognized as Shizune. "Come in." She commanded before Shizune could even knock.

"Um… excuse me, milady, but I wanted to give you this." Shizune handed Tsunade a file and Tsunade blinked. "What's this?" She questioned as she opened up the folder and glanced over its contents. "It's news regarding the strange things happening in all different villages." Shizune explained. Tsunade's eyes widen from the information reaching her ears while she carefully read over the news. Tsunade's teeth latched onto her thumb and she was stumped by what could possibly be the cause for these mysterious happenings. "As you can see, milady, it began in the middle of the forest when these rouge ninjas happened to be wandering around. It says that they were once ninjas from the Village hidden in the Mist and the Sound, and suddenly disappeared right in the center of the forest. It was said the two rouge ninjas heard the sound of a voice singing, and suddenly –they just vanished! Right into thin air! Nobody knows what happened to them, but it somehow managed to spread into the villages." Shizune explained.

"The first village was the Village Hidden in the Stars, where they had many reports about having strange dreams. Second, was the Village hidden in the Mist, where it was said that the villagers heard strange noises from outside the village. The same thing happened in places like the Village Hidden in the Sound, the Village Hidden in the Rain, and the Village Hidden in the Waterfall – though the Village Hidden in the Rain happened to hear the noises from places like dark alley ways, and any dark or dim place, really…" Shizune went on. "Do you know what type of noises?" Tsunade asked. Shizune sighed, and shook her head. "I wish I could say 'yes', but, no ma'am. Sorry, I don't." She answered honestly. "Hm…" the fifth Hokage racked her brain as she processed the information. Suddenly, she abruptly stood, making Shizune jump in surprise. "Shizune!" Tsunade yelled. "Y-YES, MILADY? " Shizune stuttered. "Get together Team 8 and 10, along with Sakura and Sasuke! Tell them I've got a mission for them." The Fifth commanded. Shizune uttered, "Yes, milady, right away!" and just as she was about to grab a hold onto the doorknob, Tsunade stopped her. "Wait," Shizune looked over at the lady who had given her an order. "Yes, milady?" she questioned. Tsunade had her back facing Shizune, before finally turning just slightly towards her assistant. "Make sure you bring Naruto, too. He'll be a good help to the team."

"Besides; he hasn't had any action for a while…" She reasoned.

~.~.~

"_OH YEAH! I'M __**SO**__ READY FOR THIS MISSION! FINALLY, THERE'S SOME ACTION GOING, I'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR ANOTHER MISSION!"_ Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as excitement ran through every inch of his body. Shikamaru sighed. "Would you shut up already? Besides, you're one to talk –your last mission was three days ago. It's the rest of us that should be complaining, not you, Naruto…" the chunin explained. Kiba 'humphed' with doubt obvious in his voice. "Do you even know what the mission is?" he asked as he turned towards face his blonde-haired companion. Naruto froze, and Shikamaru sighed while Kiba's brow twitched. "_ARE YOU SERIOUS!? WHY EVEN GO ON THIS MISSION IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE MISSION IS!?" _ He screamed. Naruto scratched the back of his head as he chuckled nervously. "Um, what? Of course I know what the mission is!" He proclaimed, before tip-toeing over towards Sakura, Sai, and Sasuke. "Um… do you guys happen to know what the mission is?" Naruto whispered sheepishly. The vein in Sakura's head became noticeable, and she clenched her fist. "Why, you…!"

"Sakura, wa–"

Naruto's body went flying into a tree and the others sighed with the exception of Sasuke, Hinata, Shino, and Sai. "The mission Lady Tsunade assigned to us was to get as much information as we can on the odd 'happenings' going on in each village that happened to be notified to their leader." Sakura explained with an annoyed expression. "O-oh…" Naruto pulled himself out of the tree, and sighed as he stretched his body so you could hear the sound of his bones cracking. "Geez, Sakura, you really need o learn how to communicate with words or else you'll end up hurting everybody." He advised. Sakura clenched her fist some more. "Na... ru…to…!" She grumbled. "Alright, alright, come on, now, we've got a mission to do." Shikamaru cut in.

"Yes, I agree. W-we probably sh-shouldn't stick around. We've got the mission at hand, and it may be the start of a new enemy, even." Hinata added. "That's right; we really should be going now." Shino agreed. "Hey, wait a minute; I didn't know we had a new member on the team! What's your name, anyway?" Naruto asked. The boy's vein popped out of his forehead, and he let out a short growl. "It's me, Shino. You should remember an old comrade." Shino scolded. "Oh yeah, that's right! You're that Shino guy, from team 8!" Naruto exclaimed. Somehow, the vein popping out of the bug-filled boy's head seemed to grow bigger. "Enough," everybody turned towards Sasuke, "if we keep this up, the more time we'll be wasting. Let's just go already." He said. "I agree…" Shino murmured. "Alright, then, let's hit the road!" Kiba cheered.

And so on they went towards the very first village that happened to experience some odd 'happenings'…

The Village Hidden in the Stars…

~.~.~

"Hey, look! We're here!"

The gang stopped at the border edge of the Village Hidden in the Stars, and gazed over the quiet town. "Although this village is calm and looks normal, somehow… it seems… odd." Shino stated. "Odd? Odd how?" Naruto questioned, giving the village a more thorough look over. "My bugs can sense some odd energy coming from different buildings in this village and from the outer area, too. It may be a good idea to visit some of these places and see if we'll find any clues about the strange dreams these people has been having lately." Shino justified. "He's right." Shikamaru stated. "We should split into teams of 3, though we'll have one left over. The first team will be Sakura, Sai, and Kiba. The second will be Hinata, myself, and Sasuke. Last will be Naruto, Ino, Chouji, and Shino –got it?" Shikamaru informed. Everyone agreed, and got into the respective groups. "Let's gather as much information as we can. You know what the mission is. Scatter." He commanded. "Right!" the groups agreed, and sprinted off towards different parts of the small village.

~.~.~

Sakura, Sai, and Kiba were walking through the western part of the village near some houses and a few shops. "Okay, so what we should probably do is just search around I guess and ask random people if they've had any strange dreams lately." Sakura suggested. The trio was close to a dumpling shop, and a few more food stands. "Alright, then. Who should we ask first?" Kiba questioned as they got near a dumpling shop and Akamaru barked in agreement. Before Sakura got the chance to answer, they suddenly heard the sound of a female talking. The young lady sighed as she cleaned an already-used champagne glass and filled it up with a type of wine, before setting it down next to some dumplings. "Seriously, though, Dia, I have absolutely no idea where these strange dreams are coming from." She admitted. The gang stopped dead in their tracks, and Sakura gasped in surprise. The four turned towards the dumpling stand where the lady had admitted to her strange dreams. "Well… have you seen or heard any strange things? I mean, these dreams can't just come out of nowhere! It has to be _something_ you've seen or heard that would result in your strange dreams." 'Dia' reasoned.

The triad rushed to the shop, and slowed their pace as they entered. "Yeah, but –um, oh! H-hello, welcome to the Kimikuru House of Dumplings. Would you like anything to eat or drink?" The waitress asked the three as they walked in. "Um, no –" Sakura was cut short by Sai. "Two dumplings please!" He chirped, summoning up Sakura's number one vein again. "Sakura, would you –"

"_KYA! YOU IDIOT! WE'RE HERE ON A MISSION AND YET YOU WANT FOOD!? THAT'S CHOUJI'S THING, YOU DUMMY, AND HE'S WITH NARUTO, INO, AND SHINO!"_

Sai twitched on the floor while the freshly made gash on his cheek began to throb and swell. "Y-yes, but… what did I do wrong?" he murmured painfully. "Here are the two dumplings you ordered!" The waitress called. She sat the plate of dumplings down on the bar 4 seats away from the ebony haired lady, 'Dia'. "Thanks." Kiba thanked as they sat down at the bar. "Did you guys hear what that waitress said?" Kiba whispered. "Yes, I believe she was consulting her friend about the odd dreams she's been having." Sai replied. "Yeah, me too." Sakura agreed. "So, should we ask her about the strange dreams she's been having, or…?" Sai trailed off. "No; for now, let's just listen in on their conversation and see if we can find any valuable information." Kiba ordered. Sakura and Sai nodded, and they all began listening in on the conversation.

"Anyways, like I was saying, I do suppose that what you're saying is true –something must have happened to me in order for me to end up having these dreams, but still…" she started. Dia sighed. "Okay, you know what, Nemea? How's about you tell me what happened on the very same day you first started having these dreams. Anything at all you can remember." Dia recommended. "Maybe then, we can try and put together what could've possibly gotten under your skin in order to freak your mind out _that_ much." She explained. 'Nemea' smiled gratefully, and replied, "Thanks, Dia. Alright, let's see…" Nemea then began to rack her brain as she put together what exactly happened that day. "Mm… oh yeah, I remember now!" She cried with glee. "Alright, alright! The first thing I remember is that on that very day, I happened to be quite upset after I got fired from my old job at that store full of dolls somewhere near the edge of town. After that, I was kinda just moping around, you know? And so I happened to go to… mm… what was it again?" About a minute went by before her eyes sparked again, proving that she remembered something. "Ah, yes! I went to a small café and ordered a coffee and a ginger parfait. Even then, I was way too depressed to possibly eat anything! And so instead of eating what I ordered, I really just sat there and wept for a long time. Though, halfway through my weeping, I do remember getting a strange feeling, like… like… like something or someone was _staring_ me. In fact, it was beyond staring –someone was _watching_ me! And intently, if I do say so myself." The young waitress went on.

"It's like… it's like… whatever… or –_whoever_ it was, seemed to be… waiting." She justified her statement the best way she could. The lady's friend gave her a look. "And what, I'm supposed to chew on that? What do you mean, _waiting_?" Dia questioned. Nemea blinked, and scratched her head. "What I mean is, it's like it was just waiting. Not like for a beverage or anything like that, but like, waiting… for me. I don't know why, but somehow, it's like whoever this person or thing was, was simply just waiting. Waiting for me to speak, waiting for me to get up and leave, waiting for me to make a single move or say a single word… waiting. But really, if I'm being completely honest and as descriptive and clear as I can be, then, it wasn't only waiting for those things… it's like it was waiting –waiting for me to –I don't know –stop _crying_ and being depressed. I feel like each morning, ever since then, whenever I woke up from those strange dreams, it feels like that person or thing is trying to communicate with me. It's like it's trying to give me these dreams that seem weird and odd, but only seem that way, because there's a message in there somewhere, I just… just don't know how to find it yet, that's all." She finished. Nemea sighed. "Well, that's all I remember from that day. So, what do you think?" She looked back at her friend who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Alright… let's see, do you happen to remember any of these strange dreams you've had?" Dia questioned further. The young waitress thought some more. "… Now that I think about it, I believe the dream I just had last night was about some never-ending story… " She hummed. Dia's eyebrows knitted together. "What happened? Do you remember?" she pestered. Nemea thought over it some more, and finally had an answer. "Um… yeah, I remember. Now, this is what happened; you see, in this dream, I was supposed to be a... villager… I think? Anyways, I was supposedly lost in the woods at night, and then I came upon this mansion. (A/N: Bad End Night English dub) I remember the words of the story in song form were: _treading deep, treading deep, treading deep into the woods, village girl has lost her way on the path she took, faded letter in hand and only darkness in her sight, she arrived at a mansion in the dead, of, night…_" she sang the last part so that her friend could get a better idea of how the words sounded. Back in her thoughts, her friend seemed to be trying hard to unravel the strange mystery. "Go on." She stated. "And if you can, keep singing whatever you may remember from the song, alright?" She requested. Nemea nodded. "Right. Um… after that, I remember knocking on the door before asking if anybody was there, and a butler who wore an ANBU mask opened up the door, and asked me if I had no place to go, and these two red-haired twins started telling me about how wondrous their mansion was, while the maid gave me tea, and they all prepared for a party with wine and fancy dresses to give me a warm welcome and stuff. It was really odd, but nonetheless that crazy night continued. Everyone kept crowding around and giving me all sorts of praises! I believe the part for that was: _though eeriness leaked, from the manor, no choice but to knock on, the rotten door, "Excuse me is anybody home?", "Oh my, my, do you have place to go?" –"You're welcome so…" –"Our manor's truly wonderful!", "How about some tea to ease the cold?" Everyone from, the lady to the servant, gather round to give their guest appraisement!_"

"Then, the master of the place started to say to me how destiny caused us to meet that way, and the red-haired twins kept yelling 'PARTY' over and over again. And so the butler poured the wine, the lady gave a toast, the twins asked if I were ready, and the party began. Once again, they started singing to the song, and kept pestering me to play the lead role in that one crazy night and that sooner or later I would be somewhat drunk, and start to enjoy myself like everyone else. I believe it went: _"You know, meeting like this is a gift from destiny", "We should PARTY, PARTY!", "Come on let us welcome you!" , "HURRY! HURRY!", "I'll be sure to pour the wine", "Be merry! Be merry!", "I'll be sure to give a toast!", "Are you ready?", "Are we, indeed!", "Well, let the show begin!" You should play the lead role in this crazy night! We will dress you up, with a glass of wine! You'll be drunk enough before you even know! Won't you take the chance to enjoy it so! Let us sing! Let us dance! Let it get out of hand! Just forget everything in life sweet or bland, let it loose, let it loose till we lose our minds! Hope you fancy this happy night!" _

"After that, I remember getting sleepy, and so I fell asleep in the guest room they had upstairs with a window wedged in the ceiling. You know how usually after long hours of sleeping, you'd wake up to morning light, right?" Nemea asked her friend, who nodded in response. "Well this time, when I woke after a long while of sleeping, I became both suspicious and frightened when I saw that it was still night! The twins then asked me if I wanted to know a secret, and told me that the clock was frozen. Me, being scared, made a mad dash towards this secret passageway I happened to spot right next to the old clock, and I kept going down the stairs at a quick paced. Though I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a bunch of coffins littered around the floor! I continuously screamed 'Jesus!' and the others found me down there, and kept trying to convince me not to be scared. But I ran away again, and they resumed trying to convince me to play the lead role. This time the song went: _After the banquet, there was darkness, something was wrong, somehow she felt suspicious, she fell asleep, and after which she woke, for some reason morning light did not follow! "Hey, wanna know?", "A secret that we kept so," "The clock froze –COME AND TAKE A LOOK!" The village girl was scared out of her wits, saw a secret room, she made a desperate run for it! Tearing through corridors and opening its heavy door. JESUS, JESUS! Piles of coffins littered the floor! "Oh my! Oh my!" ,"So I guess you saw it" , "DANGER! DANGER!", "Hey, don't so be scared, please!", "Where are you going?", "Where to flee to, indeed!" Wait just one second! You should play the lead role in this crazy night! Is it going by script, is it wrong or right? What kind of ending tonight are you gonna choose? Anything and everything is up to you! Searching hard, searching hard, for a happy ending! But beware if it's wrong there's no returning! You know in the coffins, the truth may lie! Ah, will this be a Bad End Night?_"

"While everyone was sleep, I happened to be by the clock, and kept wondering to myself just what I was doing, and whining about how I just wanted to go home. Then, the others appeared and once again, told me that I couldn't leave until the show or whatever was over, and I once again started thinking about where a happy ending could possibly be. Suddenly, I happen to notice the glint in the bronze keep lodged into the clock, and then I just lost it! I ended up murdering everyone, and supposedly, I… enjoyed it. Then, they all started trying to run from me and hollered at each other to forget about the script and the play and just run for their lives. But they all were dead, anyways. After that, I wanted to play the role. That part went like this: _Oh, oh, what did I do now? I just want to get back home! "Once all the curtains fall", "Only then are you allowed!", "The answer to a happy ending, just where could it be? Searching for a faded bronze key so coldly glinting…!" I found it…! I should play the lead role in this crazy night! Smashing up your skulls with the plunge of a knife! I'll be swinging so hard before you even know…! "Well, because I began to enjoy it so!" Run away! Run away! Make a run for your lives! Forget about the play and all your lines! Break apart! Break apart! We shall loose our minds! Put a stop to this Bad End Night! You should play the lead role in this crazy night! But the cast and the stage have gone out of sight! All the acts are done and the show is over, shall we all leave this world now together? Let us sing! Let us dance! Let it get out of hand! Just forget everything in life sweet or bland, let it loose, let it loose till we lose our minds! Hope you fancy this Bad End Night!"_

"Finally, it's like… it's like the entire 'show' or whatever was rewinding itself back to the beginning of the play, and in the silent, empty room, a dark shadowy figure started clapping. It said that we put on a good show that night, and it picked up the faded letter I dropped, and for some reason, the figure started to cry. I still don't get that, but that's what happened. And that very last part went: _in the worn down room, consumed by silence, by an unknown shadow applause was given…! "That sure was a good show you all put on tonight!", and it picked up the letter, and began to cry._"

"And… that was about it." Nemea finished. Dia now had her eyes closed as she tried to solve the problem. "Well, I've got to admit, that was a pretty odd dream. Hm… when you left the café, did you happen to see anything at all? You know –anything that seemed kinda… weird, strange, peculiar, odd, and so on…?" Dia motioned for Nemea to answer. The waitress tapped her finger on her chin, before saying, "Uh, yeah: when I finally got up to leave, I immediately looked over to where I felt the eyes watching me, and at that table which was behind me, I saw something that whoever the person or thing was seemed to forget. Me, being a bit curious as to who could have possibly been sitting there the whole time watching me weep, went up to the table, and didn't see a person or _thing_. Though, I could tell that whoever or whatever this 'thing' was, it was definitely human, considering what the person had left behind –"

"Okay, okay, what I want to know was if you saw something peculiar or out of place! You know I hate beating around the bush, so what was it that the person left behind!?" The reddish-brown woman cried out in annoyance. Nemea chuckled bashfully. "Um, right, well –what I saw was what looked to be an unfinished rag doll. It was amazingly sewed and everything, though I could see that one of its burgundy button eyes wasn't completely sewed in. And I just happened to bring it home with me, and finished up its eye, before putting it in the center of that shelf above my bed. Lastly, that's when the strange, musical dreams started happening." Dia humphed. "Well, that doll you picked up may be the problem, it seems. I mean –you felt the strange feeling of being watched while you were weeping, and when you finally got up and looked towards the source, there was no person, but instead an unfinished rag doll. Then, you took it home and finished the sewing in its eye, and finally put in the center of the shelf above your bed. Suddenly, you started having these strange dreams that always consisted of a song, right?" Dia summed. "Yep, that's about it." Nemea nodded. Nemea's friend then had an uneasy look, and she noticed. With a concerned face, Nemea then began to throw her own questions at her dear friend.

"What's wrong with you, Dia? You look uneasy." She pointed out. Dia tensed up, and started to faintly shake as a wild look came into her eyes. The trembling became worse, and her breathing became shallow while her best friend, Nemea started to get a little scared herself. Sai, Kiba, and Sakura tensed up themselves, and mentally and physically prepared themselves for whatever could be coming. "Dia, what's wrong!? What's the matter!? WHAT IN THE WORLD COULD BE SCARING YOU LIKE THIS!? DIA, _TALK TO ME!_" Nemea screamed, so worried and fearful up to the point where she started to cry. "Get ready, guys…" Kiba commented and Akamaru barked. "Nemea…" The crazed-looking woman looked at her friend with paralyzing fear in her eyes, and asked a question that flew out smoothly in a soft whisper. "… Do you feel like you're being watched?"

Out of the blue, Dia quickly pulled out a kunai knife and threw it somewhere behind her. As the steel, thick, metal sliced through the air, the very sharp tip of the weapon went straight into the center of the wooden pillar. Dia got up at an unimaginable pace and stood before the knife thrown at the pillar. Nemea maneuvered away from the bar, and followed her best friend outside in front of the pillar while Sai, Kiba, and Sakura stood by and watched intently at the scene. "Why'd you do that?" Nemea asked. "Look." Was all Dia said. Nemea did what her friend ordered, and looked at what the kunai knife could have possibly hit. Then, what she saw was a black sewing button with four holes now wedged into the pillar with a large crack in the middle. "It's a sewing button. I know this may sound stupid, considering it's you, but could that really be the reason why you were so shaken up?" She questioned confusedly. Dia was breathing hard now, as if regaining the ability to breathe after being chocked, and shook her head. "I want to say no, but I think it may have been the reason why… I mean –these annoying buttons keep popping up everywhere I go!" she confessed. "I'll be walking through town –whether it's to get to my house or something of the sort –and I'll happen to see the sun reflecting off a black sewing button. Then, when I'm cleaning my room and reaching under my bed with the broom to sweep, I'll find a black sewing button mixed in the dust! If I'm buying groceries at the store, I'll see some kid walking around with a doll with large button eyes –and it's killing me –mentally!" Dia hollered at her friend to prove her point further.

"It's like this stupid sewing button is gonna tear my mental state all apart and drive me _MAD!_" she continued. "Somewhat like you, I've been experiencing weird things! Almost everybody in this village has! We're having strange dreams, experiencing strange things, and hearing strange things –let's face it! Pretty much everybody, including the Hoshikage, keep trying to ignore this and pretend like everything's all fine and dandy, but it's _not!_ How can we possibly keep trying to ignore a fact well-known by almost everybody in the village! We all know that things are getting strange and uneasy around here, and pretending that what's happening and what we feel isn't really there isn't going to make whatever it is go away! The Hoshikage _knows_ this, and yet, he (A/N: I'm pretty sure it's a he) acts as though it will." Dia complained as she stabbed the pillar repeatedly with her kunai knife she had retrieved from the pillar. Nemea sighed. "Yes, yes, I know. And you're right. This isn't just going to go away and blow over simply because we want it to. The Hoshikage needs to take action and do something about this, or else people will probably resort to evacuating the area!" She agreed. At that moment, it seemed like all you could hear around the entire village were sighs. Sighs intertwining together, and sighs going off one after another, and sighs going on and off all day and night. It's as if the only things that happened in the entire village were the confused sounds of the peoples sighs.

Sai then sighed, and Sakura and Kiba looked at him. "And what's wrong with you, I suppose?" Sakura asked with slight annoyance. Sai looked pretty confused himself. "I… I don't know. I really don't know why, exactly, but it seems the confusion, along with the uneasiness, is filling up the atmosphere and seems to be affecting me even." He explained. Kiba scratched his head before commenting, "You know, I can really see why everything that's going on would be considered weird." Sakura shook her head. "Come on." She ordered, and Akamaru barked. They walked over to the scene where the two young ladies stood before the black button. "Hey," Dia and Nemea looked up at Kiba who was currently atop Akamaru, "what seems to be the problem here?" Nemea and her friend glanced at each other, and she hurried to politely answer Kiba's question before Dia could. "Um, well, you see… lately, my friend and I have been experiencing some strange things and the main root of it all seems to be coming from a black sewing button." She answered as she picked up the broken button and handed it to Kiba. "What's this? A button?" Kiba began to sniff the button, but immediately stopped with a sort of pained look on his face. "Kiba, what's wrong? Can you trace anything?" Sakura questioned. It was silent for a few seconds. "Kiba?" Sai pressured. "It would be tuff to trace anything at all from that button with its scent. It smells… like –like sadness, and pain…" Kiba cleared. "I don't know how to explain it, but the oddity in this village is really starting to annoy me, so how's about you two just follow me, and we go find the source of all this craziness and stop it?" he offered.

Sakura and Sai looked at each other, then back a Kiba and nodded.

~.~.~

Sakura, and Sai followed Kiba through town on the rooftops, and all the way until they came closer to the border of the town. Suddenly, Kiba stopped dead in his tracks. "Kiba, what's wrong?" Sakura and Sai stopped shortly after and looked at the fellow shinobi. "Wait… somebody's here…" He stated. "And they're definitely not from this village."

"Look, we know you're there, so just come out already!" He called.

A minute or so later, a small boy with hair the color of a rose stepped out from behind a shrub and faced the trio. Sakura gasped, "Look –his left _eye_!" Kiba and Sai were shocked to see a thick black sewing button sewed onto the left eye socket of the young boy's face. "And how old is he? 5?" Kiba wondered aloud. "Who are you?" the boy looked at the pale ninja whose skin matched his. He had his hair all brushed down –front and back – maroon colored eyes (or eye), wore a white shirt with skinny orange stripes, blue overalls, red shoes, had a 6 inch ragdoll in the pocket attached to the front of his overalls, and four in his left hand which disturbingly looked like Akamaru, Kiba, Sakura, and Sai. Though, the doll in his pocket was also quite a bit unnerving since it looked exactly like him. "I'm three years old. Young, but intelligent. My creepiness is my specialty, not only in my appearance and voice patterns, but in my left button eye. With this eye of mine, I can look at any being –even animals –and automatically know all of that person or animal's fears. I can see all your fears, in thus leaving your list of weaknesses exposed to me and me only." He started, his voice only speaking in whispers. "Three? If that's the case, what are you doing outside of your village?" Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the boy and got in a fighting stance along with Sai, Kiba, and Akamaru.

"Are you possibly a shinobi? Better yet, the one who caused all the chaos in this village?" Sakura's narrowed eyes then turned into a glare that would have shaken anyone up to their core. But this boy stood absolutely still and didn't speak a word. Nor did he blink. "Yes." He whispered, audible enough for anyone within a meter and a foot away to hear. "Well our mission is to gather as much valuable information as we can on the strange happenings that's been going on in almost every village –why not bring the spoiled brat? I'm sure the ANBU members would love to interrogate this kid." Kiba snared, and Akamaru barked. The boy silently stared a bit, before speaking. "I'd love to simply kill you all off and get this over with, but that would be doing the opposite of what the Oukages (A/N: OW – KA – GEH) requested me to do. I am indeed a shinobi at such a young age, I am, but nonetheless, I, too, possess great strengths that I do believe even you leaf shinobi wouldn't have." The small boy replied calmly. "In fact, I'm positive that even the most powerful such as Orochimaru, Kabuto, Obito, Madara, and so on wouldn't stand a chance against a small, youthful opponent such as me with my abilities. To put it shortly; I'm young, but powerful. Do not underestimate those who are somewhat in a way like me –we're always more than you expect, even when we are what you may have expected. I'm a shinobi, just like you all, and I too get missions assigned to me. And my mission isn't to kill, but to capture." He went on.

"Back to the task at hand, instead of using the easy way to get rid of you pests –utilizing the voodoo dolls and easily bringing you enough pain to stun you –I'll just put you all in an illusion, and from there, capture you with the dolls." He planned. Kiba grinned confidently. "Ch. And just what makes a brat like you actually think for one second that you're stronger than us? Especially against people like Orochimaru, Madara, or Obito. Illusions are just silly mind games –they couldn't fool any capable ninja into anything. " He mocked. "And just what actually makes you think for one second that you're stronger than us? Especially against people like Orochimaru, Madara, or Obito. Illusions are just silly mind games, they couldn't fool any capable ninja into anything, he said." The little shinobi mimicked. "Not for people from my village. You see, I'll let you in about some information about me when we're on the road, but for now, I'll just say this: ninjas from my village use musical vibrations, whether it's from our mouth or from an instrumental item we play, and we create illusions that –believe it or not –are actually stronger than genjutsu. Genjutsu is using one's chakra to create the illusions. But you see, the funny part is that when people of my village use our illusions, there's always an immediate brain-swipe before each illusion, and so our opponent forgets everything he or she may remember. Though, just for our own little amusement, we like to listen to their confused thoughts about what's going on and how they suddenly ended wherever they may be in the illusion. It's… quite fun, actually."

"With our illusions, in order to make them, we usually would use the life source of our enemy so that when the show's over, the enemy is, too. But don't worry, like I said before; my job isn't to kill you. I only have to capture you, just… the fun way." He explained. Then, the boy began sing in a creepy manner, and before they knew it: they were caught up in his illusion, brain swiped.

~.~.~ (A/N: Vocaloid original song: Slender Man… I think.)

_**Finding yourself all alone with lack of memory,**_

Kiba found himself in a dark, pitch black place with one lamp light eerily lighting up the side of a house. "Where am I?" He wondered aloud to himself. He walked cautiously to the empty house with the newly-found gun in his hand, and cracked opened the door, and entering quietly. "…Akamaru, boy, are you in here?" He called lowly.

_**You are drawn to an empty house nearby suspiciously,**_

The hairs on the back of Kiba's neck stood, and he tensed. He sniffed the air a few times, and grimaced at the strong scent of blood and death. He shuddered slightly. _God, please don't tell me that little brat put me in an illusion! I bet he's enjoying this, too…_

_**Collect the clues, he's watching you!**_

Kiba collected the first sheet that read, 'Trouble!', and started to feel a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was a cold, alarming feeling that made him want to bolt straight for the door and all the way to some secret paradise for refuge.

_**Following is the key…**_

Now walking through a city at night, another page was seen on a window showing old styled dresses from around the 18th century. "_Keep running'_ it read. Reluctantly, he grabbed the page, and started running. "Akamaru! Where are you!?" He looked from left to right, and took a sharp turn to the left.

_**Embrace your gun, the game is done,**_

Gripping the cool, steel metal in his grasp, his forearm wiped the cold sweat now coming from the side of his face. Another page was found on a tree, and he took that too. 'Five' it read. "What's going on, anyways…?" He nervously to himself, afraid to turn around and see what's behind him.

_**Finally you are free!**_

Out of nowhere, as he was speedily pacing down some dark alley ways, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Just as he turned around, he suddenly blacked out, and the scene switched over to Sakura.

_**Walk around the woods at night to see what you can find, **_

The bubblegum haired shinobi walked slowly through the woods as she quickly glanced around at the creepy surroundings. _Dumb song… dumb woods… dumb eeriness… what is this kid up to anyway? _Sakura thought silently to herself.

_**A symphony of pages, don't look back, he's right behind!**_

All you could hear was the crunching of the poor suffering grass underneath her and the slight chatter of her teeth. The hairs on the back of her neck stood just as Kiba's did, and she stiffened, stopped dead in her tracks.

_**The more you know, the deeper in, the faster goes the chase!**_

_Wait a second, I know this… the song, the words –this is…! _Horror filled the young girl's eyes and she began to tremble. _He's… he's making us play –_

_**And in the end, you succumb to, the man who has no face…!**_

Fear took over, and before she could even turn her head, she, too, blacked out.

_**Slender man, let's play again,**_

The entire story switched over to Sai, who was also walking through the dark woods.

_**The game that never ends,**_

In his hand, there were 6 pages, and he ignored the feeling he was experiencing.

_**Slender man, let's play again,**_

He already knew he was being followed, though pity for him –he never even heard of the game they we're so obviously playing!

_**The game that seeks revenge,**_

Sai also knew that Kiba and Sakura seemed to have disappeared into thin air –there was absolutely no trace of them.

_**Walking down the halls, darkness envelopes like a sea,**_

Right now, Sai was stalking through the halls of a dim elementary school.

_**All the kids nowhere to be found in this elementary,**_

Although he looked in every room possible, he didn't spot any children anywhere to be seen.

_**You grab the bears, so do you dare,**_

He then came upon one classroom, and noticed all the stuffed bears scattered around.

_**Regardless, danger lurks,**_

Picking up each bear, he ignored the blank-faced man who he knew was in the corner of the classroom.

_**Behind the blankness of his face,**_

As soon as he stood, closed his eyes, and reopened them, he immediately blacked out.

_**Lies a devious smirk,**_

Before he could be completely black out, Sai's eyes widened at the sight of the man with the pale white face.

_**Wake up consumed by a familiar ambiance,**_

The first thing that was seen by his eyes was red –a red sky –and clouds darker than the black clothes he wore.

_**8 pages scattered round as if it were a second chance,**_

The 8 pages were scattered all around the ground, and the whiteness of the pages started to turn red as the blood from the dirt began to sink in.

_**Follow the lights, flee to the tree,**_

Soon, they came upon three wooden crosses. The one to the left had Kiba's body nailed onto it, and Sakura's was in the middle. There was only one place for Sai, and somehow his body was already nailed onto it –just his head was missing.

_**But never turn around!**_

The blank-faced man held up Sai's head, and began to quickly sew his head onto his body, before he started smashing in the nails.

_**Cause in a second, you will hear, that oh so slender sound!**_

Sai's body became numb in the places where the nails pierced through his flesh and onto the wood.

_**Do you want to play again?**_

Slowly, his eyelids began to droop, and before his eyes, the slender man continuously appeared and disappeared farther and farther away.

_**Do you want to play again?**_

He appeared and disappeared farther away.

_**Do you want to play again?**_

He did it again, though this time around he glitched, and in his pre-owned spot was the little boy, who then glitched back into the slender man.

_**Do you want to play again?**_

Once again, the pale man glitched –looking like the little three year old for a few seconds –and then returning to his original form.

~.~.~

Groans emitted from the three only to wake to the sound of Akamaru's untrusting barks. "Akamaru, hush, boy…" Kiba mumbled drowsily. "So you're awake, I presume?" The sound of this voice caused Sakura, Kiba, and Sai to immediately wake up and look at the young lad now pulling them with some imaginary force. From first sight of the child, Kiba instinctively lunged for a shot, before head-butting some invisible wall. "Hey, wait a second, what's going on here!?" He cried, tapping the strange force with his fingers. Sakura examined the wall, and tapped on it a few times. Then, she began kicking, then punching, but it wouldn't budge. "It seems to be some imaginary force he's using to keep us caged in. I'm guessing…" She felt around a bit, "…it's a box." She finished. "Somewhat." The young shinobi stated. "Wait, you promised to tell us a bit more information about where you came from and who you are. Aren't you still going to do it?" Sai questioned. A few seconds went by. "Indeed. I have no reason to lie, for as the Oukages would have told you anyways. Why not tell a bit before time?" He agreed. "What do you wish to know?" Sakura was the first to blurt out a question. "Who are you? And tell the whole thing this time." She commanded. A few more seconds of silence. "My name is Tommy Death, though others call me Tom. I'm from the Treble Clef clan, also known as the "T.C Clan", located in the Village Hidden in the Music. My mission was to capture those who happened to be sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. Two other companions accompanied me on this mission, and so any others they happened to find sneaking around in our business with the Star Village will be captured, and taken to the Oukages. Anything else?" He answered.

"Just what is your business with the Star Village?" Sai eyed the kid carefully. "Restrict." He deadpanned. Sai blinked, and after a few seconds, let out an obviously fake laugh while scratching his cheek. "Not to be rude, but you're quite strange…" he admitted. "I've never met any child, let alone three year old, quite like you." He specified. More seconds passed. "Yes, I am quite strange." Tom smiled secretly to himself. "My entire village is –each in their own way. Honestly, that's the main reason everyone likes our village –for as, there are many reasons to love it. The wondrous sightings, the large, amazing buildings and houses, the beautiful scenery we made all out of nature, the many activities, interesting people, bright lights, and on top of that; the fun-loving feeling you feel in the atmosphere. Leaving the place would be like a reading a powerfully sad story: sorrowful. It's really disappointing to leave, so of course I wanted to quickly get the mission over with so I could get back home." He explained. He had a cheerful tone that actually _didn't_ sound creepy! He even gave out a _childish giggle!_

Sakura stared at the boy, before saying, "I think I agree with Sai; you're a pretty odd boy." She empowered. Tom looked back at her and grinned boyishly. "Well, I am creepy and strange. I advise you to get used to it, because once we enter the village, know that you are officially surrounded by nothing but freaks, creeps, weirdos, oddities, and so on. We're all so weird, odd, strange, and creepy and so on simply because we were born that way." He stopped, and looked around. As of now, they were deep in the forest, and near the center core of it. Tom reached into his identical ragdolls front pocket, and sprinkled out the small bit of ash that formed a shiny raven colored organ –small enough for the boy to play. He stood closer to the instrument while Sakura, Sai, Kiba, and Akamaru watched intently, and began to play a short, yet still very creepy, melody.

It was silence, before you could hear the sounds of bells chiming, and a wood block beat. The instrument then returned to its original state as nothing but ashes and was sucked back into the ragdoll's pocket. Not too long after did two girls come with the rest of the gang each in their own traps. Tom chuckled. "Let me guess: Naruka, you trapped the three in your jello snuggle, and Polka has the others 'stored' in her camera?" He hypothesized. 'Naruka' grinned widely, and giggled. "Un'yu~! I did, I did! And it was so great! The Oukages might give me another free coupon for free cheesecakes for my great, amazing, beautiful, wildly, crazy good work!" She squealed, while Tom and 'Polka' sweat-dropped. Polka sighed. "I tell ya, I really don't get how I was placed in a team with her…" She complained. Tom nonetheless beamed with joy, for as he could never imagine a life other than the overwhelming comedy-like dramatic life he has as of today.

_Wait –those eyes, that hair, the marks on her face, that grin –I'd recognize that grin anywhere!_ Kiba thought silently to himself as he examined the wildlife resembling girl in front of them. Her striking features –such as her blond hair, orange attire (or at least some of its orange), marks on her cheeks, and wide grin –he had to say, she looks quite a bit like Naruto. Even her name sounds quite close to Naruto's!

_Naruto and Naruka…_ He thought.

Sakura stared at the three top notch ninjas trapped in the honey colored jello. "I can't believe it. Three of our best ninjas –the eyes, the strength _and _eyes, along with the brain. That's really disappointing." Sakura simplified. Tom bowed his head with the same happy smile on his face, and said, "Come, let's go on and enter the village. The Oukages needn't wait much longer." He ordered. Naruka and Polka shared the same smile, and nodded. The three musical ninjas looked at a certain spot in front of each other, and a large purple Treble Clef appeared. It stood that way for a few seconds, and Naruka excitedly ran up to the large portal, practically trembling with excitement. "Come on already, let's go, let's go! I'm _so_ ready to get back to the village! I'm ready to see Papaya's Pastry shop where I usually get my cheesecakes, then my super cute job at the themed café, and then our house, then our school, and –"

"Alright, alright we get it, you wanna get home. You don't think we do, too? We had to go to this boy's _house_ to get him out here for his mission! And you already know how terrifying it is to go to his place!" Polka exclaimed. A look of offense came upon Tom's face. "I do know and accept the fact that almost everything about me is creepy, but it still hurts to hear it from such people." He said. Polka began to panic as she frantically waved her hands. "N-N-N-NO, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL! Y-YOU SEE, I WAS J-JUST SAYING THAT IT K-K-KINDA SETS ME OFF A BIT GOING TO Y-YOUR NICE LOVELY HOME, IS ALL!" she cried. Naruka immediately became annoyed, and let out a large, frightening growl. "Un'yu~! I hate being ignored, and you all know that! Stop treating poor old Naruka like she's in the background and doesn't deserve to exist! Naruka was born in the first place to be heard, so whether you like it or not, you're going to ALWAYS hear Naruka _GROWL!_" She yelled fiercely. The two pen pals of hers stood still and watched her, before she humped with satisfaction. "Alrighty, then! Go, go, into the portal –teehee! Last one to the Oukages' Nest is a bad ninja!" She cried. Tom's eyes widened. "It's one thing when you doubt my child-like nature, but it's an entirely different story when you doubt my ninja skills!" He spat. In a flash he was gone, leaving Polka and Naruka shocked. "Hey, no fair!" Naruka hollered, before zooming off after him. "HEY, W-WAIT A SECOND! WAIT FOR ME!"Polka sprinted on after the two, and into the village.

~.~.~

Naruka and Polka came upon the Oukages' Nest –though, called simply Central Nest –and looked around for the youngest of the two. "Hm? Where's Tom?" Polka questioned aloud. Although the two looked around their area, the youngest shinobi was nowhere to be found. Naruka grinned victoriously, and giggled. "I guess he got so scared of the tough competition, he ran away!" She boasted. "That sounds absolutely nothing like Tom." Polka deadpanned. "WELL DO YOU HAVE A BETTER EXPLANATION FOR HIS ABSENCE! HUH, DO YOU!?" She retorted. Polka blinked with half-lidded eyes. "Actually, yes, I do. My _sensible_ explanation is that he so obviously got here before we did. I bet he's in the Oukages' office right now." She stated. Naruka went pale, and suddenly shot right up the stairs to the Oukages' office. "SERIOUSLY!?" Polka whined, for as she was once again, left in the dust.

Once she reached the Oukages' office door, she spotted Tom and Naruka already there, with Tom standing calmly in all his mighty glory with his victims in his invisible force, and Naruka glaring daggers at him while bathing in her all too noticeable aura of anger. She sweat-dropped again. _No, seriously –how is it that I know and associate with these people?_ She wondered to herself, before shaking her head, and reaching out to knock on the Oukages' door. She abruptly paused in mid-air, and Tom and Naruka noticed. Naruka blinked. "Un'yu~? What's the matter with you?" She questioned with a confused face. Polka then went into fan-girl mode. "Ah! Oh my, oh my! Just think of all the _juicy _things the Oukages could be doing together right now behind this door! Ah –a door, isn't made simply to be there, or to fill up the empty void lodged into a space of a wall, but was created for _privacy_! And with privacy, you could be doing all _sorts_ of things, hehe! Like… maybe, having a heated make out –" the door was slammed open, cutting off Polka's disturbing rant, and in the doorway stood an angry young man with silver hair. "Polka!" He spat strictly. "How. Many. Times. Have. I. told. You. To. Stop. Budding. In!" He scolded. "It's absolutely none of your business what I happen to do with my wife in private, or vice versa! Better yet, it's _nobody's_ business what we do _anywhere_ together, got it!?" He glared intensively at her, making her back up towards the wall and look down sadly. "Y-yes sir…" she choked.

"Awoi, what's the problem?" The other Oukage, Iowa, came next to 'Awoi' and latched herself onto his arm. He blushed slightly and looked down at her with a joyful smile. "Oh, you know, just another Polka Problem…" he replied giddily as he used his thumb to make her look him in the eye. Sakura, Akamaru, and Kiba looked at the scene in bewilderment. "Is this actually considered _normal _ for you people?" She looked towards Tom. "Sadly, yes." He answered. While Polka and Naruka gushed over the scene, Tom stared with boredom. "Disturbing. Now can we please focus on the task at hand? We have a few leaf ninjas we found sticking their nose into our business, as you can see, Oukages." He gestured to the four behind him in the imaginary cage. Awoi blinked, along with Iowa. "Um… w-why is there a dog?" He queried. Tom looked back at the captured shinobi behind him, and noticed the large white dog who had been barking at him the whole time. "Oh, so that's what was barking. I thought it was just the mutt –and I'm not talking about the dog." He said, making the vein in Kiba's head pop out. "I THINK YOU BETTER SHUT UP BEFORE YOU GET YOURSELF INTO SOMETHING YOU'D REGRET!" He warned.

The Oukages sweat-dropped. "A-alright, then… um, bring them in." Said Iowa. Naruka, Polka, and Tom followed the two into the gray colored office. Sakura, Sai, Kiba, and Akamaru looked around the room with interest. It was somewhat like the Raikage's office, with the grey walls, its circular shape, and large wall-sized windows that gave a great view of the town. Though, it was more on the 'homey' side, with the long Japanese table and silky rich purple cushions surrounding it, plants and vines decoratively covering the walls in the room. A wooden circular desk with two computer chairs on the inside, secluding it from the rest of the room, along with white, lavender, and peach colored rose petals scattered about the desk and around it. Two vases porcelain vases matching the lavender petals had a white, lavender, and peach colored rose intertwined and wrapped around each other in a magical way, and the room had an enchanting atmosphere. Awoi slid his arm around Iowa's waist with ease –as if he had done this so many times before growing up – while Iowa wrapped her arm around him firm yet slender body with her left hand on his chest and their bodies pressed together. She chuckled slightly. "Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Music, or as we like to call it: the Island of Misfit Toys!" The two welcomed happily. "My name's Iowa," introduced the snow-haired lady. "And I'm Awoi," said the silver-headed man. "And we're the Oukages of this village. Please, feel free to let out your oddities while you're here!" He encouraged. "After all, in a village of freaks, there's no such thing as the 'normal' crowd."

"Now, I bet you're all wondering why we sent these few ninjas out to capture any ninjas they found snooping around in the villages we've visited." Iowa began, leaning in to her husband's loving hand which was currently entangling itself in her wide, long bangs. "You see," she and her husband had blood rush up to their cheeks as they laughed pathetically. "We actually just wanted to talk." Awoi finished his wife's statement.

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"I'm sorry, _what?_" Kiba growled at them in frustration and disbelief.

"Talk… TALK… _YOU HAD US PUT UNDER SOME CREEPY ILLUSION, CAPTURED, AND THEN DRAGGED INTO SOME HIDDEN VILLAGE SIMPLY TO __**TALK!?**__ NO NINJA WOULD WANT TO __**TALK**__ AFTER BEING CAPTURED LIKE THIS!_" He exclaimed furiously. The married couple were hiding behind their desk and peeking at Kiba and his growling dog with Awoi trying to shield his wife the best he could. "Um, n-now h-hold on a second…" He stuttered, pushing up his dark purple circular glasses. "W-we are indeed sorry for the mishap, but we didn't exactly know how to approach you, for as…" he cleared his throat, and adjusted his position so he was covering his wife up more, while straightening his posture. "We're not exactly use to newcomers. And we already knew about the stories of the 'strange happenings' you ten were sent to investigate. Um, first off –the strange happenings were us, and… we're terribly sorry, once again, for the distasteful way we treated you all." The two Oukages stood behind the desk with their hands on its cool surface, and bowed their heads with a serious tone. "Yes, truly apologetic, we are. If only we came up with a better way to greet and meet –we came up with only that after, like, a night and a half." Iowa admitted, grabbing a hold of Awoi's hand and gripping it gently, but firmly. Awoi laughed, and scratched his neck. "Yeah, well, that was actually my idea, and please do forgive me, I was in a haze that night." He admitted. Iowa blushed and looked at him vulnerably. "All I did was given you a kiss." She implied. He grinned at her with a loving, heartfelt gaze. "But it was still wonderful…" A soft peck on the –

"Well aren't you two such a happy couple? You two truly do look amazing together… I'm only three, and yet I feel quite jealous!" Tom praised. Iowa and Awoi stared, and looked at each other with narrowed eyes. "He's being all giddy again." Awoi pointed out. "That means we definitely need to hurry this up –he's ready to be put down for his nap." She informed. Awoi nodded, and they turned back to the four with complete seriousness and focus. "You already know who we are, and why we brought you here in such a way, so we're going to try and end this as soon as possible." Awoi explained. "We are the newest village –with different jutsus, powers, personalities, faces, rules, and so on –and so the main thing we want to do is make peace between at least one village. We have gone through a lot, and like they say: 'you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have'. So… what we're saying is, we'd like to get to know some about you three and your life. Where you came from, how it started, and so on –whatever you can and will hopefully tell us." He finished. "Yes, and because we have work to get to, and then a date, we'll have one of our most amazing group out of a lot of them simply take record of whatever you tell. Now, our village is full of very loyal and interesting people, so no need to worry about things like us turning our backs or anything. We stay loyal to any new and old friends we receive, as long as you return the favor." Iowa winked.

"Tom, release those ninjas and their animalistic companion, will you? And Naruka," (A/N: To put the long story short, she basically wears the same outfit Katy Perry where's in her music video roar, but the shirt made of fur has tiger stripes) she looked exactly like Naruto, and had long blonde hair held up in a pony-tail on her left by a round orange clip (like Neru Akita). "Please get those shinobi out of that delicious jello! You're disgracing them!" He scolded. Suddenly, tiger ears and a tail popped out, and she got on all fours as if she were a wild tiger. Her tail had a large black bow with red feathers hanging, and she wagged it wildly. "Right!" She chimed. Tom easily undid whatever Justus he put on the voodoo dolls, and the three shinobi and the dog fell onto the floor. Kiba rubbed his head in pain, and muttered, "Brat…" Naruka circled around the three blocks of jello with lightning speed, before abruptly stopping and using her tail to knock the block of jello Hinata was in. The Hyuuga fell on the ground with a thump surrounded by pieces of crumbled jello, rubbed her bottom with a hurt look on her face. "Mph! That hurt…!" she whined. Naruka repeated this, and knock Shikamaru out of his jello-jail. He hit his back with a thud, and pain shot through his back like a blow to his gut. He grunted, and sighed out heavily. "Troublesome woman…" he muttered. "Always so rough…"

Naruka circled around Sasuke, and knocked off only half of the jello that trapped him in place. Awoi blinked, before crossing his arms with furrowed brows. "Naruka, I told you to let them out of the jello prison you made, and that includes the middle one." He clarified. Naruka pouted, and reluctantly glanced up at the scary raven haired boy who looked at her with intimidating eyes. "Um… yeah, but…" she then scratched her head with a dumb look. "He's kinda scary, though… can we just keep him in here for now?" Awoi became annoyed. "Naruka! Please don't let it be that you're disobeying me! Even if he may be scary, you must let him out by the words of your Oukage!" He pressured, making the girl flinch, and give another hesitant glance at the man. The look on Awoi's face softened, and he sighed as he rubbed his face. "Look," he faced Naruka with direct eyes, "you still have to free the rest of him from the hold your jello has on his lower body." He noted. Her eyes became slightly wider than usual and scared, and he smiled warmly. "But just for you and possibly others, I'll put him under Tei and Zei's watch –you and I both know very well that anyone stupid enough to get on Tei _or_ Zei's bad side will indeed get themselves in trouble!" He notified.

Naruka's face brightened up extremely, and she grinned widely. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She giggled. Immediately, her tiger tail flung itself into the wobbly jello, and it smashed into pieces –leaving the rest of Sasuke's body free. The sharp tip of Sasuke's sword clashed together with another type of mysterious sword. The weapon wielded in Awoi's hand had a bronze dragon carved onto its shape, and its small beady eyes were a dark bloody red. Instead of metal or iron, the medium sized blade was made of gold and glass (on the sides of the blade were thick, hard glass). "You really shouldn't attack people –especially ladies. Although she was the one who shamed a tough ninja like you by simply trapping you in a jello prison, she was still obedient enough to completely free you from your jail." He remarked with a smirk while Iowa held on to the frightened tiger-like girl and comforted her. Sasuke jumped backwards the same time Awoi did, and the two stared at each other. The ex-Orochimaru pawn decided to take this as the chance to exam the two leaders more efficiently. Awoi, the husband, had silver hair that was pulled back in a low, and super tiny ball, while two wide bangs that went down to the middle of his neck framed his face. He wore the traditional clothing for Chinese men –a silky dark grey shirt, and black silk pants, and sandals. His wife, Iowa, also wore traditional Chinese clothing for women. It was a simple traditional Chinese dress made of purple silk with the collar and split. On top her head was a small, circular matching hat, and her long snow white hair had two long, wide bangs and two large, identical balls of hair in a low-style. Keeping it tied up was matching purple ribbon with yellow lace.

The light reflected off of the two wedding rings enchantingly, and made the rings even more beautiful than it already was. The wedding ring on their fingers were made in the shape of a slim dragon made of clear marble and had its face upward, blowing out golden fire with a red ruby shaped as a heart to symbolize their love for each other. As far as any human being could tell, including Sasuke, it was quite a beautifully unique ring. Going throughout the clear marble of the piece of fine jewelry, you could clearly see the golden stream flowing and connecting itself to the golden 'fire'. With its beauty, uniqueness, and enchantment –the first sight of it could make any man or woman jealous. "Hm." The sharingan user put away his sword, and bowed to the two leaders. "The name's Sasuke Uchiha, of the Uchiha clan. I'm from Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaf." He introduced coolly as he regained posture. "One of my teammates –the one with the white eyes –is Hinata Hyuuga, heiress of the Hyuuga clan. She also possesses the Byakugan. The last, the leader of our small group, is Shikamaru, the mastermind behind our every move." He pointed to both his teammates. Iowa took a good look at Sasuke, Hinata, and Shikamaru, then Kiba, Sakura, and Sai. She giggled. "I must say, all of you gentlemen have grown up quite nicely, don't you think?" She asked Hinata and Sakura. The girls blushed (Hinata's being the worst of course), and awkwardly replied, "Um, sure…?" (and for once Sakura didn't fawn over Sasuke as much as she would if she were younger!)

"And you little ladies are both very lovely sights!" Awoi praised, making the two blush more. "Um, t-thank you…" Hinata thanked. Iowa and Awoi smiled, and intertwined their fingers. "Polka, how's about you free the rest of them from your 'storage'?" Iowa questioned playfully. Polka grinned, still in a bit of a daze from watching the Oukages' love scenes. She gurgled. "Yes ma'am!" She answered. (A/N: About how she looks, putting the long story short, again, she looks like the same girl from that Vocaloid song a female ninja, but I want to love or something like that.) She scrolled through the special storage she had when battling against opponents, and found the picture of the four shinobi and the blonde haired male banging on the screen. She sweat-dropped as he yelled at her to get them out of there, and sighed, before clicking the 'free' button. With a flash from the camera lenses, the four suddenly appeared in the room, and Naruto immediately started yelling at the girl. "_WHAT WAS THAT!? WHERE ARE WE!? WHERE DID YOU TAKE US, HUH!? AND WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE ANYWAYS!?"_ He screamed. Polka gave him an odd stare, before stifling a giggle at his loud, impatient behavior, and took a picture of him, then Naruka, before turning and smiling back at Naruto again.

"My name is Polka Eamu, and I'm a shinobi, like you, from the Treble Clef clan –though for short, we call it the T.C. Clan –and right now, you're in Ongaku, the Village Hidden in the Music. This room you're in is just the Oukages' office. Um… all I did was trap you in my camera temporarily, and then took a picture of you. It's alright if you don't like taking pictures and having your picture taken, or you're scared of the camera. It's a common fear for people." She laughed. Naruto was quick to shoot back a remark. "I am _not_ scared of the camera!" He proclaimed. This made Polka's eyes widened, and she doubled-over laughing. Naruto blinked. "I don't get it, what's so funny?" Somehow, he made the girl laugh even more, and he scratched his head with a dumb look trying to figure it out. Shino, Chouji, and Ino looked at their surroundings, before Ino suddenly spotted the ring on the female Oukage's finger. "AHH!" She squealed as she abruptly took Iowa's left hand to gaze at the beautiful ring. "Wow! It's so pretty!" She cried. Iowa blushed, and smiled. "How flattering! I'm glad you think so!" She grinned, with a slight boast. Hinata and Sakura joined to admire the ring, and were both flabbergasted by the lovely sight. "Amazing!" Sakura uttered. "That must've cost a fortune!" Hinata admired. Iowa's face turned pink from all the attention, and a slight blush crept upon Awoi's face while he rubbed his neck sheepishly. He slung his arm clumsily around his wife's waist, and pulled her close. Proudly, he stated, "I made it myself. And I must say –it only seems to look best on my wife." His other arm joined the others on Iowa's waist, and he pulled her even closer to embrace her slender fatigue.

The five girls: Polka, Naruka, Ino, Hinata, and Sakura, all gushed over the scene. "Un'yu~! I wanna find love as strong, and beautiful as theirs someday!" She wished. "Me too!" The girls cooed after her, and all the guys sweat-dropped. Iowa and Awoi, chuckled at the teenagers, and Awoi looked at the newly free members. "Welcome to Ongaku, the Village Hidden in the Music! But we all love to say the Island of Misfit Toys! And this isn't the last time you'll hear that, so if you don't want to hear it from anyone else again, you might as well just ignore them!" the male Oukage chirped. "Right! Now, we should probably go ahead and let six take over…" Iowa insisted as she reached out her metallic colored nails decorated with a small white rose bud, and pulled up a secret square shaped flap hidden among the desk's surface. Under it was a lavender colored button, and she pressed it. The leaf shinobi stared at the holographic screen that appeared, and Iowa tapped on the search engine on the very top of the monitor. She typed something in, and it showed a few sentences that she quickly read. As this was happening, Naruka looked over at the newcomers, and her eyes were glued to Naruto. She blinked, and while on all fours, strutted over to Naruto. He looked down at her in confusion, and was stunned to see a girl who looked like a mirror image of himself. "Um… who're you?" He asked. A look of woe spread across Naruka's face, and she pulled on Naruto's sleeve, making him bend down to match her level. She blinked some more, and brought her face a bit closer to his face. Naruka's eyes became sorrowful, and this made Naruto's heart ache. "You… are you, possibly, Naruto… Uzumaki?" Naruka asked with pain. "Yeah… why?" He couldn't help but feel as though his heart was being strangled by a group of thin, dark thread. She seemed to froze, and looked down slowly –hiding her quivering lip and twitching nose and brow. How could she let herself look so pathetic? Especially in front of him?

Naruka looked at him through her lashes, and said, "My name's… Naruka Uzumaki…" Naruto's entire being froze. _No way, _he thought, _this girl couldn't possibly be any relative of mine. _Naruto shook his head. "No way, you can't…" He felt like crying, but being the strong the ninja he is, he wouldn't dare shed a tear. "But I am…" Naruka muttered. "Say what you want, Naruto, but it'll never change the fact that you are my younger brother, and I'm your older sister. It'll never change that we have the same hair, eyes, face structures, whiskers, attitude, and personality. We're loud, impatient, and dense, too. It'll never change the fact that we share the same mom, and the same dad. No matter what, it'll never change that we're the same flesh and blood –a brother and a sister. " There was a pause as the two stared at each other.

The Oukage typed something else in, and a scanner appeared from the display. "Step in front of the scanner, please and you'll be teleported to your soon-to-be hosts' house." She said. The crew obediently stepped into the scan after Chouji managed to convince the reluctant Naruto, and it scanned them over once, then twice, before it flashed. In a matter of time, the crew vanished.

~.~.~

Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Kiba, Ino, Chouji, Shino, and Akamaru were suddenly standing in front of a large, pale yellow house with beautiful scenery around them. A small waterfall in the front with a grey stone wall –vines hanged down from the tree with pink flowers sprinkled lightly on each strand, with fresh green grass, and a brown wooden set of doors. The matching colored roof had oval-shaped windows going through it, and you could see large, wide, glass windows on parts of the upper and lower house. A few seconds went by, and the door opened to reveal a boy with a snowflake that had sharp horizontal zigzag lines on his red headband, and a red and blue attire. He wore a blue hat, had dark eyes, wore a matching mask that covered half his face like Kakashi, and a jacket with a sweater-like collar. A half of the jacket was blue, while the other part and the collar were red. Blue jeans cover his lower figure, a small pouch attached to his right lower leg, and he wore the blue sandals most shinobi wore. He blinked, and turned his head with a look of glee. "Hey, Minnie, you guys have some guests." He turned and looked at them, and gagged a little when he saw Sakura. "Ugh!" He retched. "And careful; one of them's _ugly_!" He warned. "Pretty girls like you all shouldn't half to suffer like that. Such a shame…"The boy reached into his pouch, and pulled out a bitten cracker, and handed it to Sakura. "Here, take a cracker. Ugliness like yours deserves something good to come. God bless you…" The boy shook his head as he turned and walked away, leaving behind an amused crew, and an angry Sakura. "Why you…! Just who are you anyway!?" She yelled after the boy, who stopped and looked back at her. He blinked again, and replied, "I'm Dun Roe. I'm from the Village Hidden in the Ice, and I'm just here visiting my cousins for a few days." He explained. "Bye!" He twittered, before strutting off down the hall. 

A blue haired maiden took his place by the door. Her hair was in two twin-tails, wrapped up at the ends to make it look like two eighth notes with the bump at the top and everything. She had neon purple eyes, and you could see that in the middle of her black pupil, a white treble clef filled up the middle space. She wore a red strapless dress with a fan attached to the front, bold lines going down from the middle part of the dress where the upper part and lower part meet, and matching boots with a triangular flap that bent over in the back and front. The boots design where similar to the lower part of the dress, and black spheres dangled from the tips. She had mocha colored skin, and looked at them without interest.

"50 bucks."

Everyone looked at the girl with disbelief and Sakura glanced at her awaiting hand. "Uh –excuse me?" She asked. The girl glared, before another mocha-colored girl came next to her with an unsatisfied look. She had raven braids going down her head, a yellow 8-bow in the back of her head with black stripes, dark eyes, and her entire outfit was nothing but black and yellow enhanced with a few dashes of gold. Her tunic was yellow with a square-neck, and a black stripe going straight down the middle. Golden rhinestones went along the squared hem, and she wore black tights with yellow thigh-high boots, which had golden rings near the end. On her forehead, she wore a black headband with a treble clef that had three squiggly lines on both sides, surrounded by light yellow cherry blossoms. "Queen," she scolded, "I'm not a guest here, since this is my home, too, but even I find that quite rude." 'Queen' looked at her with narrowed eyes, and bitterly said, "Well, if a bunch of folk are going to be put under our watch for the time being they stay here, then we might as well get paid." She retorted. The dissatisfied look stayed on the golden girl's face, and her bottom lip poked out in the slightest as she crossed her arms. She shook her head with a sigh, and gave her best smile to the crew, showing some of her teeth.

"Sup. I'm Minnie Cresential; welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys. This right here is one of my best friends, my teammate, workmate, and schoolmate: Queen Red." She introduced kindly. "I'm Sakura, and this is Chouji, Shino, Naruto, Ino, Sai, Kiba, and his dog Akamaru. I'm guessing you two are the ones the Oukages wanted us to talk with." She pointed out. Minnie giggled. "Oh no, there's two more. Come on inside, I'll show you around, and if we happen to pass by the two, then I'll make sure I tell you a little about them!" She insisted. Queen threw her head back and let out a loud, obliviously annoyed groan, and stomped loudly as she matched pace with Minnie. The group followed in behind, and Naruto made sure he closed the door. The halls had soft turquoise carpet, with multi-colored walls –this one being a lime green. As they walked down the halls, on the walls were pictures of Queen and Minnie along with two other girls. It showed them gradually growing up, and having good times together. The first one was one simply of the four girls together –young, youthful, and most of all… happy. They were grinning like fools wearing shorts and skirts with popsicles and smoothies in their hands, obliviously sitting out in their backyard or something on a hot summer day. The photos after that showed them growing up doing normal things. Like: the beginning of school, their little sleepover, a large breakfast-feast, birthday pictures, a portrait of three other boys –one of them being recognized as Dun –and so on. In the middle of the picture-covered wall was a wide image with a quote written on it, saying: "_You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have."_ And under it was what looked to be a family photograph. There were Minnie and Queen standing next to the two other girls, two more boys on the other side of Minnie, and of course, Dun was in the boys' crew to the left.

"Down here is the game room. Come take a look!" Minnie chirped as she pulled back a bunch of beads on strings. It revealed a dark room lit up by disco lights, and game consoles, board games and all sorts of entertainment. Words of awe emitted from within the group, and the unusually quiet Naruto only gave a short glance at it, before returning to his unnatural state. "Alright, keep walkin' people –I smell something good coming from the kitchen, and I'm _dying_ to just fall on the couch and unwind!" Queen rushed. Minnie blinked, and then turned back to the guests with the same toothy smile. All in all, each one of these girls was pretty!

"You all heard our little, _Queen_, so let's get going with the tour already!" She grinned. They turned a curve. She continued on walking, and pointed at an Italian deep purple door, then a white door, and then to opened French doors. "This right here is the office. We come here to think, read, draw, write, and so on. You can go in there if there's something you have to think about or whatever… heck, we even go in there simply to just see the amazing view it has and just be alone for once! And… that's the bathroom, and then to our right here is the way to the family room." She pointed. "Your house is amazing!" Sakura complimented. "It's so spacious, and wondrous, and multi-cultured! From American, to Italian, to French, what else? I'd definitely love to live in a house like this!" She claimed. Minnie chuckled, and spoke a, "Thank you", and Queen kept her arms folded as before, and looked away with a small, "Humph."

Minnie rolled her eyes at her friend. "That's her secret language called, Queennazian. There are rumors about her coming from Queennazia, and being born into a royal family." Minnie gurgled some more at Queen's small growl, and waved her fingers. "Come, come! Deeper into our amazing house!" She coaxed playfully. This continued on, and they came close to another curve, where you could smell something in the air. It had a strong whiff of melted honey and chocolate mixed in one, and the slight tint of blueberries. As they all came upon an Indian-styled archway, the two girls from in the pictures stood with messy hands and aprons. Ground cinnamon and sugar covered their faces, and their giggle fest had come to an abrupt end when they saw the crowd of people looking at them quizzically by the archway. "And as much as I can tell, I'm guessing this is the kitchen." Ino muttered audibly enough for Minnie, Queen, and the two girls to hear. The two girls laughed sheepishly, and the one in the silk purple witch/gymnast outfit said, "Um, sorry about that…"

"We made Ita's (A/N: EE – DUH) fabulous Chocolate Panforte!" The other girl who looked to be a primadonna informed cheerily with her high-pitched voice.

'Ita' wore a purple silky witch outfit that was _very_ revealing! It was kimono styled –with the super skinny yellow obi –and had yellow trims and stars printed on the fabric. Her purple witch hat had yellow crescents going around it with the top and bottom tip of each symbol touching each other. Long, orange curling hair fell down behind her, and her bang were straight across bangs –and very short, though –and two pieces of it stuck out all curly defiantly when the straight across bang was straight with an inward bob. She had fair skin, pink eyes, and four matching circles on the side of her face. Her only under-wear was the lower part of a yellow leotard, and her purple boots had yellow swirls going along it diagonally. A transparent lavender cloth was also attached to the lower part of the leotard. She gawked at the guests behind them, while the primadonna next to her in powder pink and blue gave an open-mouth smile with a girly giggle.

"Ita, where are your manners? We have guests!" she pointed out. "My name's Sugar Mono, and as you can see, I'm one of the most talented primadonnas in the village!" Sugar introduced, doing a small twirl swiftly and gracefully. She gave a courtesy. Two white medium sized feathers stuck out from the large pink ribbon around her waist that was tied in a bow in the back to cover up the front of her body. Her powder blue skirt which had layers of white lace underneath poofed out a bit, and she had pink ballet shoes with the silky ribbon attached the wrapped around her legs that stopped mid-thigh with another final light blue bow in the back of the two slip-on silk shoes. she had fair skin, and the oddest eyes the crew has seen yet – no circular pupils or anything –simply just two thick black lines crossing each other and forming and "X" shape in her eyeballs. "Um… right… I'm Ita Italiano, one of the few magic-users here in the village. Nice to meet you all, I guess." Ita familiarized. She then muttered under her breath, "Though I didn't make enough Chocolate Panfortes… " (A/N: Chocolate Panforte is an Italian dessert that consists of fruits, nuts, honey, and chocolate of course! Never had it before, but it looks tasty, so you could maybe try to make this dish at your home and see how it tastes).

"Sakura, Chouji, Sai, Naruto, Ino, Shino, Kiba, and his partner in crime; Akamaru." Queen presented bluntly. She then stalked over to the plate of Chocolate Panfortes and grabbed two, before exiting the room and turning a corner to go back to most-likely the family room. Ita, Sugar, and Minnie sweat-dropped at their friend's behavior, and sighed. "Well, after seeing how Queen acted, how's about Sugar and I pick up from here, hm?" Ita suggested. Sugar gave another open-mouth smile, and giggled with a nod. "See? Look, she's nodding –this girl totally gets it!" the young witch slung her arm over Sugar's shoulder and grinned. Minnie moaned. "Oh, gosh, that would be great –I'm totally fine with it!" She cried as she too grabbed binary rectangular shaped Chocolate Panfortes. "Queen's not the only one who needs some time to relax…" and with that she scurried out of the kitchen to probably where her best friend and housemate is –in the family room.

"So these are the folk you four were assigned to babysit…" Two males from the family photograph walked in through a red backdoor that was installed in the calcium silicate brick wall opposite from where the crew was standing. The entire kitchen was made of these bricks, and the counters were made of white marble with beige islands. A black fridge stood propped up into a corner, and there was a red window near the stove that gave an outlook to a bunch of trees and a path leading into it. The two males looked like each other, but with differences that made it easier to tell them apart. The on the right had black, short hair that hung down with a spiky appearance and a single long strand of hair on the left side of his face, skin that matched the man next to him –along with Queen and Minnie – and wore a golden tuxedo with yellow and bronze colored orchids standing side by side in the golden vest's pocket. Underneath was a black, silk button-up collared shirt and matching khakis. Dark boots were half covered by the pants he wore, a golden fedora sat upon his head, and he had raven eyes that matched the other guy and Minnie's eye color. His facial features were sharp and striking. "Maze Cresential," he stated straightforwardly. "Minnie's older brother and this fool's older twin." The so called "fool" next to him grinned toothily and rubbed his neck. He let out a hearty laugh, and Maze glared maliciously at him.

The boy Maze was mentally throwing knives at the one who looked exactly like him, though the color he bore was all silver, and the long strand of hair was on the right side of his face. His facial features were softer than Maze's, but nonetheless sharp and striking. This one obviously seemed more friendly and welcoming rather than his twin, Maze. "Sup, my name's Miles! I see two lil' ladies in the guest crowd, so know as long as you're here, I'll be your super hero!" He gave a thumbs-up with a hand on his hip and with a wink, made Sakura and Ino's heart speed up and blush wildly. His toothy grin grew even wider, and you could see the silver tooth in his mouth glimmer from the light. Kiba then grumbled with a glare towards the set of twins, "Seriously? They're gushing over some ridiculous motto from a guy in a silver tuxedo, what's the big deal about him, anyways?"

"Oh shut up, dog-breath! You wouldn't understand!" Ino accused loudly, before gushing over Miles again. Kiba growled at her, and yelled, "How's about _you_ shut up for once!? Besides, you already fan-girl over Sai and _Sasuke!_ Now this guy!? It's pointless, none of them are even interested in you!"

"NO WAY, SAI TOLD ME I WAS _BEAUTIFUL!_" Ino defended.

"WELL HE PROBABLY WASN'T THINKING STRAIGHT THAT DAY!" Kiba retorted.

"YOU'RE JUST _JEALOUS!"_

"NO WAY!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"NO!"

"YES –wait, what?"

Kiba stood there confused at what he said for a few seconds, before growling some more at the laughing Ino when he had realized his mistake. Ita and Miles were laughing too, and Maze continued to glare at his brother even harder. An arm quickly put a grip on Miles' neck, and the poor fellow had trouble breathing as Maze's grip grew unimaginably tight. "Can't… breathe… Maze…" he coughed a bit. "You… i-idiot…"

"We'll be taking over your shift." He stated frankly, glancing over at his twin who fell limp in his iron grip.

"WHAT!? BUT WE NEVER EVEN HAD OUR TURN TO GIVE THEM THE TOUR OF THE HOUSE YET!" Ita exclaimed exasperatedly. "Too bad. Follow us." Maze said directly. The guests nonetheless followed the teen and his unconscious twin and turned another corner only to come upon a flight of carpet quarter landing stairs, along with two doors –each having their own wall. There stood the white mosquito-fenced door on the right, and a glass door to the left. Through the glass, you could see all sorts of instruments and DJ equipment –and in the center of the dark room, of course was a white recording station with the glass window and everything. "As you can see, folks, to your right is the way to our most beloved backyard –quite a beauty it is…" Miles started cheerfully. "…And to your left, is the recording station, where we store and create new songs and beats. We use it for karaoke, too." Maze finished. Everyone stared at Miles, before Chouji asked –while eating potato chips of course – "Hey, weren't you unconscious or something? You know –just a few seconds ago?" Miles blinked confusedly, and scratched his head with an idiotic look on his face as he tried to remember the scenario that occurred just a few seconds ago. "Mm… I don't get what you talking about, Theodore, I don't remember any of that –" Suddenly, Miles was once again out cold, and the leaf ninjas slowly looked over to Maze with suspicion. This twin had his arms crossed, and an unhealthily cold glare on his features. "I did _not_ do it." He stated fiercely. The music shinobi then turned around and with his brother's arm over his shoulder, continued on with the tour, walking up the steps. "He has a sleeping disorder called Narcolepsy. It's quite a bother sometimes, and happens a lot when he happens to feel a strong emotion." Maze explained, for once, gazing at his brother with what looked to be warmth. You could practically feel the brotherly love reflecting off his eyes.

_So although Maze can be greatly rude, bossy, unfriendly, rough, and unwelcoming, there's still always room for his brother…_ Sakura smiled at the sweet sight, and along with the group, followed him up the stairs and into a dark colored hall that had three doors on each wall. At the end of the hall, on the small piece of partition, a brown wooden door stood tall and proud. "The three doors on the left belong to Queen, Ita, and Sugar. The others on the right belong to me, Miles, and Minnie, my sister. And if any of you go into any of these rooms here _without_ permission, I don't care what the reason is, you _are_ going to leave with more than a black eye." He threatened. "As for the females here, I'm not exactly _fond_ of hitting women, but I will twist your ear, cheek, or nose. Better pray none of these things get tore of 'accidentally', so I suggest you be a good little shinobi girl, and not go in any of these rooms." He cautioned. "Know that I'm not saying that to try and scare you or anything –but simply that I don't happen to know my own strength, as the others would put it, so I may happen to be a bit more rough than intended."

The two different ninjas stared at each other. "What are your names?" Maze suddenly asked. Sakura blinked. "Um… I'm Sakura Haruno, and this is Sai, Kiba, Akamaru, Ino, Naruto, Shino, and Chouji. We're all leaf shinobi from Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaf." She presented. Maze studied them all, and then humphed. It was an awkward silence as the two dissimilar shinobi once again stared. Minutes went by, and Maze grew irritated and impatient. _**What**__ are they waiting here for? Paparazzi? Me to say something? Miles to wake up?_ The staring went on some more.

…_Are they trying to make me mad? _

"Leave."

That was all Maze could say or else he would end up hurting somebody –and not only would that been upsetting for the Oukages and possibly ruin the village's chances of making allies (like he cares, though. He fine with the village not being known or heard of) but his younger sister, Minnie, would most-likely be disappointed. All because of him, too. He and Miles _love_ their little sister dearly. They wouldn't want any type of pain or harm to come towards her! Especially if they had been the cause of it…

But then again, it'd also be best to behave partly for the village and all those who inhabit it, too, because the entire village –including him, his twin, Minnie, Ita, Sugar, and Queen – has been through enough pain. The wounds in their hearts, and some on and inside their bodies, are still there and freshly cut open, or are simply aching scars. So much pain, humiliation, rage, hunger, and so much sorrow…

Maze almost chuckled at the thought of everything good that has happened since _then_. Mainly at how odd everyone in this village was –but mostly in this house. Queen was rude and had a marionette (A/N: you'll understand sooner or later), Sugar had odd eyes and had a scary father, yet a nice persona, Ita is an Italian witch and only uses her Italian accent when she's really mad or something, Minnie was a sweet, interesting girl, though very lazy, Miles has a sleep disorder and goes to sleep at random times, and he himself has anger issues and isn't very welcoming like Minnie and Miles. Such an odd village, it is. The shinobi looked confused and some irritated, and Sai awkwardly asked, "Well… where are we supposed to go?" he asked. Maze's eyes widened, and in a split second, he booted the pale boy in the stomach which sent him flying in the air a few seconds, before pinning him against the wall with his foot. The man leaned in, and spoke bitterly, "Do you want to get on my bad side?" Pain shot through Sai's back from the middle to the lower part, and his stomach felt as though many thick poles were getting thrown deep into his body. He doubled forward as best as he could while in Maze's deathly grip, and clung onto the thick, black boot in the lower part of his gut. Sai looked into the music shinobi's orbs, and saw what looked to be a glint of pain. He stared confusedly as the pain in his eyes grew bigger, and new emotions joined in, like dread, regret, fear, and anxiety.

All too quickly did it disappear, and Maze was a good two feet away from Sai. "Sorry…" he muttered, with frustration clear on his face. "Go see Minnie and them, they'll take care of this…" Throwing Miles over his shoulder, he walked calmly towards the middle door on the right, and entered, closing the door behind him with a soft _click_. The seven watched him for a bit more, before reluctantly going back downstairs, down the hall, turned the corner, and walked into the family room where the four girls were sitting. All eyes with the exception of Queen's looked towards the group, and Sugar stood with a smile. "Hello~! Alright, now –let's get you all out of this house and go show you around the village!" She cheered, and Ita and Minnie made 'woot, woot!' sounds. Minnie, Queen, Sugar, and Ita stood from their previous seats, and brought the group back out to the main entrance of the house. "Hey, Min-Min, Itty-Itty, Sugar Fluff, and Little Red Riding Hood~! Where ya going?" Dun questioned, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The girls' sweat-dropped, while Queen growled, and clenched her fists. "Who's Min-Min, Itty-Itty, Sugar Fluff, and Little Red Riding Hood?" Chouji queried. Ita face-palmed herself, and Minnie spoke, "U-um… that would be us. I'm… Min…Min…" she trailed off. "Little Red Riding Hood." Queen spat with venom, giving Dun the evil eye. "S-s-sugar F-fluff…" Sugar cleared. "And of course, Itty-Itty." Ita finished. The young witch then sighed, and said, "As you can see, Dun's one of those people who likes to give people nicknames… though they're not always that good…" With a roll of her eyes, she opened the door, and let everyone exit while saying, "Don't worry, we're just going into town to show these newcomers around a bit. We'll be back soon."

Dun had a pathetically cheerful look on his face, and said, "O-kay! Later Hater!" He called, mimicking the tone of some cartoon character from a random cartoon called, 'Wander Over Yonder' (A/N: Oh yeah, that show). As soon as Dun closed the door, he leaned against it, and slid down the wooden frame with a sigh.

_Those girls better be okay… I can't stand not having them in my sight! I know this village is safely secured and hidden away from others and most danger, but still. Who's to say those leaf ninjas aren't dangerous themselves? _ A worried expression was glued to Dun's face, and he sighed once more. _Minnie, Queen, Sugar, Ita –please, just be alright, will ya?_


	2. I walked these kids home epically

I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR NARUTO SHIPPUDEN! ONLY THINGS THAT ARE MINE! BESIDES, IF I DID, GAARA WOULD BE IN AND ON EVERYTHING!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

The eleven shinobi walked down the dirt-path that led into a flock of trees. It was silent as each member stalked down the passage, each wrapped in their own little world of silence, or simply drowning themselves in their separate thoughts. _**So you've got some newcomers on your hands, huh?**_ The all too familiar voice rang inside Minnie's head with the slightest echo. A smile couldn't help but creep onto the teen's face, and she let out a small chuckle. _Yep! They're a few leaf ninjas from Konoha, _she replied to the voice. _**Konoha… hm… oh! Yes, yes, I remember now –the Village Hidden in the Leaf! I knew I recognized that place from somewhere. **_The voice retorted. Minnie grinned. _I bet you did…, _she trailed off. _Well, we're already coming up to the village, so I'll talk with you later, okay? _ The young shinobi could feel the presence in her mind nodding, and breathed through her nose as she got ready to host again. "Well –welcome, ladies, to Ongaku, the Village Hidden in the Music! Remember, you will be meeting a lot of strange people here! Just like with Naruka and Naruto, Tei and Zei, Maze and Miles, the two Oukages and so on, doubles will indeed be seen a lot!" Minnie hosted as they came upon a large sign that read, "Ongaku: The Island of Misfit Toys!"

"Some may even remind you of a friend of yours or something. Now: first stop – Tei and Zei's tea shop! Be careful what you do and say; they will attack you!" Ita informed. The group stalked into the village, going at an even slower pace, and the crew with the exception of Ita, Sugar, Queen, and Minnie were amazed at the sights before them. Tall buildings stood here and there, all the people were very strange looking (and some were doubles just as Ita had said), and the fresh, delicious smell of foods and desserts of all kinds came from all around the area. Although it was daytime and the sun was shining brightly, the villagers nonetheless put up massive amounts of lights that gave everything a majestic feel to it, and music was being played as it mixed in with what seemed to be the normal buzz of life in the place. As they all strode down the dust paths leading all through the town, a sudden voice was heard.

"_STAFF! NEW…COME…ERS…!_" A female who looked like Rock Lee back in the village came running –well –_rolling_ at them on a large, green and orange ball. Green warmers were used as her clothing: with leg warmers just below her knees, arm warmers starting a bit under her shoulder, and one large body warmer used as her upper clothing, and another used for the lower, and the stretchy material were an orange color. She wore gray shoes, and 'Lea' in all caps was printed on the giant ball she was on in orange –matching the color of the stars that decorated the circular item beneath her. She had fair skin, dim eyes, a navy green treble clef tattoo, pink lips, and what looked to be a beauty mark right near the bottom left corner on her left eye. The girl abruptly came to a stop, and the cast of people looked up at the girl as if she was crazy. "L-LEA!?" Minnie stuttered. Sugar giggled, and Queen gave out her signature humph. Ita sighed, and said, "Well… guys, meet our overly trained non-ninjustu user, Rai Lea (A/N: Ignore the way it's spelt. It's pronounced RIGH – LEE). And not R-I-L-E-Y, but R-A-I, space, and then L-E-A." meanwhile the girl looked a lot like Lee, she didn't have bushy eyebrows like him! Her eyebrows instead were very thin, yet still, it was noticeable. "What did you do, shave off your eyebrows and draw thin ones with a dry erase marker?" Ino muttered under her breath. "Hey, doesn't she look kind of like…?" Naruto finally spoke, and glanced over at Sakura. Said konoichi's eyebrow twitched, and she replied, "Yeah, she does."

Rai Lee jumped into the air, and hugged her knees to her chest as she spun in the air, and landed perfectly on one leg on the dusty ground. "Greetings, newcomers! Welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys! I am Rai Lee, and I hope you feel weird and welcomed for the time being that you are all here!" She greeted, giving a thumbs up. The gang sweat-dropped at her similarity to Lee and Guy-sensei back at the hidden leaf. "The resemblance is uncanny…" Shino uttered, and Akamaru barked in agreement, while the others nodded. "Um… yeah." Minnie stared. "Um, guys, as you now know, this is Rai Lea, and everybody calls her Lea. So, uh, Lea, could you please go away now so we can finish the Oukages' requests on showing these folk around?" Minnie asked as politely as possible. "Ah! Oh course! I will see you later, friends, newcomers!" and with that, Lea went rolling off in some other direction towards an Omurice stand. "Alright, then. Come on, Tei and Zei's tea shop isn't too far from here." Ita mad a hand gesture to follow, and they continued walking in silence as the leaf shinobi continued their observing.

Soon, they came upon a giant porcelain tea kettle that read, "Tei and Zei's: Trick or Tea!" Sugar's face lit up. "Ah, look! Here we are, back at the Lunato residence… I wonder how they're doing, anyways." She questioned herself. The other three sweat-dropped and Queen sighed exasperatedly. "One: we saw them yesterday! Two: let's just get this over with." She speed-walked ahead, and the others followed into the giant tea shop. The bell chimed as the group walked in, and people turned their heads to look at the four recognizable females, and then stared at the newcomers behind them. Queen's brow twitched. "Now I know how mothers with too many children feel…" she murmured irritably while a dark green haired boy and girl came up to them with a soft, shy smile. The green haired girl was half a head shorter than her brother, and had her hair down in two feather loop braids resting on her shoulders, a curvy slick bang covered most of her right eye and was tucked behind her ear, the other bang was combed back neatly and held up by a silver metal flower-shaped hair clip that had skinny metal chains attached. She had fair-skin that matched her brother's, and emerald eyes. On her left cheek had what looked to be a glass cup filled with tea. She had glossy lips, thick eyelashes, wore a black undershirt made entirely of lace, a brown kimono that covered most of the undershirt and showed just a little cleavage, an obi with a chain pattern surrounded by small orange petals and a background the matched the color of her hair was worn above her waist, and the front lower part of the outfit was black, with vines printed onto the cloth as it twisted and turned and connected in random ways, and her leg was left slightly bare, so you could see the vine wrapped up her leg.

Her brother resembled her, and was half a head _taller_. His eyes were considerably feminine, but were more so on the boyish side. His hair was cut short, though he had long scissor-like bangs that stopped mid-neck, and wore a gray kimono with skinny, vertical black stripes going down, and looking at the gray color kind of made you think of those old fashioned TVs, and a black obi with white vertical stripes. He wore socks and wooden sandals, and had his arm linked with the girl's. In the female's free hand was a porcelain cup filled with hot tea, and in the male's free hand was a silver platter with a porcelain tea pot, along with four matching cups filled of tea. "Hi… my name's Tei Lunato." The girl introduced (A/N: Tei sounds like Eileen from Regular Show, and Zei sound just like the two, just with a boyish touch). "And I'm Zei Lunato, Tei's older twin sibling… hello." Zei informed. "Sakura, Sai, Kiba, Akamaru, Ino, Naruto, Chouji, and Shino. Who's the new kids over there?" Queen stated simply as she gazed over at Sasuke, Hinata, and Shikamaru. "Hey look, it's Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Hinata!" Naruto brightened up, though there still were some unwanted feelings from his earlier meeting with his… _sister_. "Who?" the blunette asked dryly. Sasuke was wearing a dark red kimono with a purple obi that had bamboo patterns going along the red fabric, and rain drop patterns along the purple obi. Shikamaru wore a dark olive green kimono, with a dark goldenrod colored obi, and his kimono had zigzag lines on them, while the obi had gun designs on them. Hinata's kimono was a light pink with a cream colored obi that was decorated with lace, and the kimono was covered in black swirls, while the obi had cake patterns on it. "Oh, that's Shikamaru-rōdō-sha, Sasuke-rōdō-sha, and Hinata-rōdō-sha." Zei confirmed (1).

"When the Oukages dropped these three on our porch to be watched over, we immediately came up with an idea to put them to work! Besides," Tei's sweet, shy, and gentle personality switched dramatically to loud, challenging, and simply… _crazy_. "SHIKAMARU IS A LAZY WASTE OF SPACE, HINATA IS A STUTTERING, FOOLISH, WEAKLING WITH _NO_ BACKBONE WHATESOEVER, AND SASUKE IS JUST A WORTHLESS WOMANIZING _JERK-FACE_ WHO THINKS JUST BECAUSE HE HAS LOOKS, HE CAN SWOOP THE OH SO AMAZING TEI CHANJE LUNATO INTO GOING ALL GUSH AND FAN-GIRL STYLE SO HE DOESN'T HAVE TO DO WORK! THEY ALL NEED DISCIPLINE!" Tei hollered.

"TEI AND I ARE GONNA WORK THEM UNTIL THEY'RE ON THEIR KNEES IN A POOL OF THEIR OWN BLOOD BEGGING FOR MERCY!" Zei concluded, his personality suddenly making a whacky change and matching his sister's. The others sweat-dropped as the four music shinobi watched their two friends go and start smashing Hinata, Shikamaru, and even Sasuke's face into the table and counters with their feet and Zei with his foot and elbow. "Um… I can see why the Oukages said someone would only have to be stupid if they were to get on Tei and Zei's bad side…" Ino muttered. "Yeah, I know…! I mean –even Sasuke's getting his skull brutally bashed into the counter close to that butcher knife!" Chouji remarked. "Wait a second, why's a butcher knife on the counter anyway? This is a tea shop, it doesn't involve any knives!" Kiba commented, and Akamaru barked in confinement. Out of the blue was Zei bent down in front of Akamaru with his eyes in an intense glare. The glare was so deep and intense, that it looked like slits. A rope made of cool tea wrapped around Kiba's arms, and snatched him down so he was at eye level with Zei, and Akamaru who gave the boy an uncomfortable stare. "…Is this your dog?" He asked with malice in his voice. Kiba gulped. "Uh… yes?" he replied nervously.

Zei's bangs hid his face, and he slowly looked at Kiba with a dark, scary look and a murderous glint in his eye. "Get rid of it, or else it'll be put in for good… _use_." He whispered threateningly with an evil, slow chuckle following afterwards. Kiba froze, and immediately started trying to convince Akamaru to go outside. "Oh come on! You only have to stay outside for a few _minutes!_ It's not like you're gonna die! Because of you NOT wanting to go outside, I MIGHT!" He yelled, pulling the large dog by its neck. "Come… on…!"

"Need any help, suga'?"

Kiba and Akamaru stared at the cowgirl before them dumbfounded. Kiba shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, what?" The girl had hair the color of hay in two low pony-tails (somewhat like Tsunade), thick black eyeliner that made her wide green eyes pop out, wore a brown furry sleeveless cardigan with strings hanging down, a white V-neck shirt with matching lace at the top, brown shorts, and brown boots with medium sized balls made of wool on the tips of her shoe strings. On the top of the fair-skinned girl's hair was a brown cowgirl hat. One hand was on her hip, while the other hanged, and her brows were knitted together. "I said: do ya need any help? Y'r seem to be havin' some trouble gettin' tha' lil' pup of yr's t' behave." She restated (A/N: That was my first shot at writing/ in a way, doing a southern or "Texan" accent [thick]. I'm not exactly sure if it's right, but I tried, so if anyone who reads this happens to have a southern or Texan accent, whether it's thick or no, please note that I don't mean anything offensive!). The flabbergasted look stayed on Kiba's face for a few more seconds, and Akamaru barked, snapping him out of his stunned daze. "Um… n-no, I got it." He replied. Her eyebrows seemed to furrow deeper and her facial expression looked even more annoyed than before.

"… Callie Shawc."

"… Kiba Inuzuka… and this is Akamaru, my dog."

Callie glanced downwards at the dog, before glancing at her imaginary watch, and then scanning the area. The vein in the young cowgirl's head poked out, and she uttered in annoyance, "Where in the ding-dang village could those two fools possibly be! I neva' had to wait this long!" (A/N: Ah… I wonder who's the lucky person who'll have to wake up in the morning to the innocent, angelic voice of their beloved wife.).

"Oh, you're waiting?" Kiba asked conversationally as Akamaru sat down, rubbing his coat of fur against the smooth, cool porcelain that made up of the tea shop. "Yeah. It's almost three, and my teammates –including a few teens in this here ol' shop –need to be gettin' a move on to the bus stop 'r else w'll be late. And I do _not_ need detention with Mr. Keel again!" She complained, scoping the area once again for any signs of the two she was waiting for. Kiba squinted at her. "By any chance would some of those teens be Tei, Zei, Queen, Ita, Minnie, and Sugar?" the last name rolled of his tongue easily as if said millions of times before, and left a giddy, delighted feeling behind (which really shocked him). If it weren't for him being in public, then he'd probably be muttering the name over and over again with a goofy Naruto-styled grin on his face. The corners of Kiba's lips twitched, and Callie replied with semi-interest, "Yeah." Though she suddenly became quite curious. "But how'd y'r know?" Kiba crossed his arms and shrugged. "Well, while I was on a mission with a few associates of mine, I, along with Akamaru, of course, and most of the gang happened to be dumped on the front porch of those four girls and the three other guys, so that's how I know the four girls and the three boys. Then, we came here, and on our way, met some girl named Rai Lea, before, sadly, running into the Lunato twins…" he explained as Callie let out a small chuckle towards the end. "So you met Tei and Zei? The bi-polar twins?" She questioned with a knowing smirk. Kiba's eyes widened. _So that's why their personalities changed so dramatically like that!_

Callie giggled some more. "Yep, that's sure why!" She commented. Kiba stared. "I didn't say anything." The cowgirl blinked, and said, "Yeah, y'r did. Ya probably was so stunned, y'r didn't even realize it when ya said it." She clarified. Kiba scratched his head. "Maybe… if you don't mind me asking, where is it that you guys all have to go anyway?" He enquired. Callie eyed him for a bit, before saying, "Well, duh: Monstrosity High." Kiba almost fell over. "You guys have to go to school!?" He yelled in a manner between disbelief and high amusement. Shinobi usually went to ninja academies, not schools. Callie scowled at Kiba's reaction. "Yeah, what of it?" She spat bitterly. The dog-like boy laughed and wiped a tear from his eye. "Shinobi don't go to school, they go to an academy –a _ninja_ academy!" He explained. The annoyed look stayed on the girl's face. "Well, look –if you live here in Ongaku, whether y'r like it or not, or whether y'r a shinobi or _not_, school is a requirement. And not only that, since school goes on for 8 hours, the first half are academics, and the second is ninja training. You can be a great ninja filled of honor, but if someone were to question you about academics and you couldn't answer; you'd make y'rself look ridiculous. Let's start with the easiest thing in the world: 30x + 40x – 2. Solve the equation for me." She tested. Kiba stared blankly for a few short seconds, and suddenly became angry as a smug smirk spread across her face. "_WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO TEST MY SMARTS, HUH? IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WHAT I KNOW AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO!_ Besides –it's" It was Callie's turn to laugh and she gave her knee a small slap. "Oh, _wow_…!" She uttered, "A dog-like leaf shinobi doesn't even know how to do an equation." She shook her head. "Come on, now! That's like –fifth or sixth grade! See, this is why the Oukages and the Elder and Elderess came into agreement that no matter what rank each person is, school is _required_." Callie boasted. "Knowing the Oukages, they wouldn't force us to go to school, let alone create a school building, if they felt no need for us to learn our academics. Bye, now."

Just as she said that, two girls –Naruka and Polka –came running towards the tea shop smiling. "Un'yu! +It's that boy Naruto- ototo was hanging with! I'm Naruka Uzumaki, Naruto-ototo's long-last older sibling! Pleased to meet one of Naruto-ototo's many friends!" She introduced, over-excitingly shaking Kiba's hand. Said boy immediately pulled his hand away. "Uh, yeah, you too…" he muttered half-heartedly. Polka furrowed her brows. "Hey~! I'm short, not dead! Pay attention to me~!" She whined, making Naruka burst into a fit of giggles, and Callie smile with comfortableness. Kiba sweat-dropped and the others from before along with Tei and Zei walked out. Maze and Miles then jumped into the picture after hopping from roof to roof, and Miles gave his signature smile while Maze his usual death glare. The boy in the golden attire growled a bit at his brother, before looking to the others and saying, "Let's get going. We've got 25 minutes to get there and the bell rings five minutes afterwards." He stated. The group let out there shouts of agreement, and they all went sprinting off, leaving the collection of leaf ninjas behind. Sakura and a few others sweat-dropped anime style. "Okay… so what are we supposed to do now?" the crowd all shrugged, and Hinata started nudging her two index fingers towards each other.

"U-um… m-maybe w-we should find a decent p-person to help give us d-directions out of Ongaku…" Hinata implied softly. Sakura smiled. "That's a great idea, Hinata." The young Byakugan user blushed, and the rest began walking unknowingly deeper into the maze called Ongaku.

~.~.~

"Ugh… we've been walking forever… can we please stop to eat ramen?"

"_NO!"_

That was about the millionth time the gang had to tell Naruto that they weren't getting ramen, and honestly, it was annoying. Naruto groaned some more, and the veins in his fellow shinobi's heads were clearly visible. Hinata was in front, leading the way in a random direction (A/N: By the way, Hinata, Sasuke, and Shikamaru are in their original clothes). They all came upon a dirt path that had stones wedged into its surface, and they followed Hinata down the path. A small white arch stood between white fencing that made a perfect square shape around the petite circular stoned house that came into sight. Flowers of all kinds were placed decoratively around the building, and a peach tree stood to the right side of the house. A piece of rectangular wood was intact with the two thick strong vines that were wrapped around a branch securely.

"…pohyei…?"

Hinata beamed at the small, furry pink and white creature as she unconsciously stepped into the unfamiliar land surrounded by greenery. "Aw~! You're so cute!" the creature looked like a squirrel, but smaller. Its front starting from around its mouth and downwards was white, while the rest of its fur was a pink color, and around its eyes was the color fuchsia with a small little line poking out near the bottom outer corners. Its tail curled, though in a pig-styled way, and a small silver chain was around its neck. "Hinata, what are you doing!? This is somebody's house –you should know better! I'm sure they taught you this already at the Hyuga mansion." Kiba scolded. Hinata looked at him and blinked. She gave the area a scan, and realized that he was right; she had just barged in on someone else's property. She reluctantly looked back at the small fuzzy squirrel like thing, and carefully examined the chain around its neck. A rectangle made of silver was there, and it read 'Hint'. She squinted. "Hint… is that your name?" She questioned the creature.

"Yes, it is…"

The Hyuga gasped at the sudden voice, and looked up at a man in a fandango colored attire. He wore a kimono for men with the upper part hanging –showing the matching long sleeved shirt he wore underneath, and gray futuristic looking headphones covering one of his ears as the other ear cup (or whatever it's called) rested upon a certain point on his head. Long, silky French pink colored hair seemed to give off a welcoming vibe with the way the fall breeze blew his hair softly. His fair skin had a healthy glow, and his cheeks had a slight pinkness in them that seemed to be natural. The man's eyes were dark magenta orbs that had a beautiful lavender ring around it and matching splotches on his eye. Dirt marks covered his face along with the black gloves he was wearing, proving that he had been working in the ground. Oddly enough, two white bull horns about a foot long stuck out from his heads, though went unnoticed somehow. A small smile was plastered on his face as his eyes travelled to each leaf ninja's face, and slowly landed on Hinata. This man gave off a warm, kind, gentle, light-hearted aura, and Hinata and the teenager locked gaze.

_Ba-dump…Ba-dump…__**Ba-dump**__…Ba-dump…Ba-dump…_

The young konoichi blushed furiously as the young man held out a bare clean hand after removing the glove. "Come…" his voice was smooth like silk, and he tilted his head, and the blush on Hinata's face only deepened. "All of you. Inside, please, I insist." He requested. The group followed him inside the small, circular two story house. Although it looked small on the outside, it was one of those houses where it turned out to be large on the inside. "Sit, please; I will bring you tea." The man was about to exit into the opened paper door that led into that hall, before stopping, and looking back at Hinata with his light-hearted smile. "Miss, if you don't mind, I'd like for you to come…" Hinata stiffened, and rigidly followed him into the hall, and then into the kitchen while the others watched with slight suspicion. She walked further into the kitchen as the man closed the door behind them, and she became overwhelmingly nervous. "U-u-u-um… I-I'm H-Hinata H-Hyuga. W-w-w-what's y-your n-name?" She asked shyly. He smiled once more, and let out a laugh so smooth and soft it blended in with the quiet silence a bit. "Gādonā Heart. A pleasure to meet you… Hinata-chan…" he introduced. It would probably be bad to her father and Neji and everyone else in the Hyuga household if she were to openly say with complete honesty that she would be glad to die, but even still – as corny as it sounds –she could die right then and there and be utterly happy. Hinata returned his never-fading smile, and he seemingly smiled more. Gādonā walked over to the stove and to the right in a white cabinet, took out a silver kettle pot and placed it on the burner after filling it with water. A soft _click_ noise was made when he turned the stove on, and the burner with the kettle on top started to heat up.

"Hinata-chan… could you be a dear and get the cloths, yarn, and tea mix out for me, please? It's right there in that small little drawer." He asked politely. Hinata nodded, and did s told as she took out the two squared cloths, a lone string of yarn, and the half-filled bag of tea. "Lavender and Peach… is this even a blend?" Hinata absent-mindedly questioned herself. She had forgotten that Gādonā was there, and didn't see him come up beside her. "Yes, it is. Well, I had Tei and Zei create this special blend for me." He admitted. "Those two never did like unsatisfied customers, so they would always do things such as what they did for me; if you don't like any of the tea blends that they had on the menu and such, they'd put you in a long process of watching them quickly create more and more blends until there's one you like or –if brave enough –suggest. They won't even let you go to the bathroom or leave your seat period until they create a blend you favor. It took a while for me, but when I finally suggested they mix two certain flavors for me, they were astounded when I told them how fond I grew of the newest blend and if they could make it to-go. Those twins then laughed at how long I was in the restroom afterwards." He explained. Hinata giggled at the thought of Tei and Zei forcing Gādonā to sit in a chair and continuously drink tea until he had one he liked, whether he had to go to the bathroom or not.

"T-that doesn't sound too fun…" she commented. Gādonā laughed. "Yeah, well, it wasn't. so next time you go to Tei and Zei's Trick or Tea shop, just drink their tea and say it's good." He joked. Hinata grinned, and the two chuckled some more. "I-I'll make sure I do that n-next time, if I don't h-have to work there…" She trailed off. Gādonā raised an eyebrow. "The two put you to work when they saw the way you behaved?" He suggested. Hinata's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know?" she queried. He chuckled softly. "simply because knowing Tei and Zei, with the constant stuttering in your words, the easily intimidated-like expression you seem to wear, and how you seem to try and hide your face behind your hair all is one of the many things that would automatically flip the switch in Tei and Zei's mind and they'll most-likely start screaming at you and crushing your head into something hard. They did that to me before when I accidentally spilled tea over my kimono and shirt and declined help from Tei and Zei to get it off. I stuttered a bit in my sentence, and they both just started screaming at me and bashing my head into the edge of the table with their feet. It's scary. Truly horrifying. It will make you look at those twins in an entirely different way." He clarified.

Hinata gave a small smile, and blushed immensely as she felt Gādonā stand behind her, and gently slide his fingers over Hinata's. Unknowingly by Hinata, Gādonā stared at her the whole time while guiding her hands into pouring the tea mix onto the two cloths layered upon each other, and wrap the string around the old fashioned tea bag looking figure. Reluctantly, the boy with the fandango attire released Hinata hands, though didn't back away. Instead, he took this time to examine her. Long, shiny purple hair flowed down, shielding her face like a thick curtain, and soft pale skin. Her cupped her chin, and slowly turned her head towards his face, and took in her facial features up close. _Button nose, plush lips, clear pale skin, thick dark eyelashes, white eyes with a lavender tint –_he stared with intensity at her light lavender eyes before recognizing it. _The Byakugan_, he thought as he then smiled. "The Byakugan, huh?" Hinata blushed even more so, and she looked like the side of a fire truck. Gādonā chuckled. "Well guess what? There isn't just the Byakugan, Rinnegan, and Sharingan; because I have a new eye called the Mite Ora. With these eyes of mine, I can see everyone's auras, including animals, and in thus giving me the aura related abilities I have, like –"

_EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!_

The two jumped at the sudden noise, and Gādonā unenthusiastically walked over to the hot pot, and poured it into 7 glass cups. "Hinata-chan, be a dear and dip the bag into each of these cups while I get the sugar." Once again, with his infamous smile did he turn to get a small white porcelain bottle from a cabinet. Hinata was frozen for a few moments, and blinked, before quickly doing what she was told. As she dipped the old-fashioned tea bag into each cup, she started to wonder more about Gādonā. "S-so… h-how old are you, Gādonā-kun?" She questioned softly. Said boy almost fell over, before catching himself in advance to keep from doing so. "U-um… I'm 22." This time it was Hinata who almost fell. "Twenty-two!?" She repeated loudly. Gādonā looked at her in slight confusion. "Um, yes, twenty-two. Why?" Hinata slowly sank to her knees, and mumbled, "…six years… he's six years older than me…" Gādonā smiled when he caught her drift. "So you're only sixteen, huh?" he poured sugar in each cup, and began to stir each one with a small silver spoon. "Bummer." With that, Gādonā left the kitchen, and after Hinata recovered, she meekly followed after him. "We're back." Gādonā informed as he and Hinata stepped back into the living room. The French-rosette set the silver platter onto the small wooden coffee table and said, "Here's the tea I promised."

"Thanks, but, I'm afraid we're not here for a long meet and greet." Shikamaru confronted. The smile on Gādonā's face dimmed, and almost looked like a straight line. "Then… if you don't mind me asking; why were you all bunched up by the fence?" he questioned. "All we want to know is if you could guide us out of Ongaku, and back to the Hidden Leaf, if you know the way." At this request, Gādonā's full smile turned on again, though wider, and he seemed almost excited. Blood rushed to his cheeks, and his eyes widened in the slightest way. Unconsciously, faint cracking noises underneath his skin and right on the bone under his eyes, near the inner core, and on each side of his nose, but somewhat close to his eyes (A/N: I'm trying to word it right! .) was heard. A hole began opening up as white kid-sized elephant tusks sprouted out steadily, gradually revealing itself until it stopped, its bottom being the size of a penny. Shikamaru and the gang, including Hinata, stared indifferently at the twenty-two year old before them. Though somehow, this went unrecognized by the young man. "R-R-R-Really? Y-ya mean it? S-s-seriously!?" Gādonā spoke with content happiness and disbelief in his voice. "A-a-a-a-a-"he shook his head furiously, "T-that's amazing! Y-yes, I'll do it! And no worries, I know the way –one sec." the twenty-two year old ran back into the hall, not bothering to close the cardboard paper door behind him, and hurriedly, yet silently, ran up the stairs to his chambers. He strapped a very small eraser sized pouch onto his wrist, grabbed his silver headband from off a desk in his room, and tied it carefully around his neck, before running back down the stairs towards the group of leaf shinobi. "Alright, make sure you have everything, and let's go!" he chirped. Gādonā reached into the pouch around his wrist as he opened the door, and pulled out a silver object, somewhat resembling a quarter before any markings are made on it. He brought it to his lips, and blew into it softly. No noise was heard, and as the leaf ninjas walked out of his house, they turned back and waited impatiently.

"What's he doing?" Naruto asked. Sasuke glared at him from a side point. "And just why do you expect me to know? I don't live here." He snarled. Naruto shrugged, and looked back at the fellow standing in the doorway. "…Pohyei…?" Hint appeared on a low branch connected to the peach tree, and Gādonā smiled as he shut the door and locked it behind him. "Hint…" he began as he strutted casually to the small creature. "Time to go, we've gotten a request to guide these ninjas back to Konoha." The small fuzzy animal began making immigrant squeals and pounced onto Gādonā's head, resting firmly on his right horn. "Follow me. And make sure you can keep up…" he warned as he got into normal position any ninja would get into before sprinting off. "… tell me if you need me to slow down, I get –"

"Hi, Gādonā-sensei!"

Said man fell over at the all too familiar voice. "H-Hi… Naruka-san…" he greeted as he automatically began rubbing the tip of his left horn with his thumb and index finger. "Un'yu~! Look-y, look-y, Gādonā-sensei – big brother Minato's back! Say hi, Minato-kun!~" the blonde haired replica of Minato sweat-dropped at his _older_ sister, Naruka. He sucked in a breath as Naruto's eyes immediately bored right at him and Naruka, and widened as he said, "Naruka… me and Gādonā-teki has already met…" suddenly the vein in his forehead appeared. "_AND ENOUGH WITH CALLING ME YOUR OLDER BROTHER! YOU'RE NINETEEN AND I'M ONLY SEVENTEEN, ARE YOU SERIOUS!? TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY! WE ARE __**NOT **__A FELION FAMILY, OKAY!? I AM NOT A LION!"_ He growled ferociously at his sibling, making Naruka flinch away. Tears started to swell in her eyes. "….*sniff*….*sniff*…whimper*…" Minato immediately became anxious, and his palms felt sweaty as he stiffened. Before Naruka could let out her first sob, he shouted, "I-I'M SORRY! I d-didn't mean to mean to make you cry, Naru, are you alright? I'm sorry –UGH!" the copy of he, Naruka, and Naruto's father, grunted when Naruka gave him an iron-gripped hug. "It's okay, big brother Minato-kun~! Naruka forgives you!" She giggled as she waved her tiger tail happily.

"…Dad…?" Naruto questioned dazedly. The others stared at Naruto's 'dad' with interest, even Sasuke, and 'dad' looked at Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "_Dad?_" he groaned out in annoyance. "that makes me think of that one time in Suna when some kid asked if I was Temari's uncle!" he complained, and Naruka chuckled. "Oh, no, no, no, no, _no, _Naruto-kun! Minato is the name of our daddy –this right here is your older brother, Minato Jr. Joey Uzumaki!" Minato's eye twitched. "If you call me Jr., or dare to even speak my middle name to anyone else I will come back from training with Temari and kill you." He stated bluntly. Naruto continued staring. "So… I have an older brother… and sister…" memories of when Naruto and Sasuke fought before at The End of Tears flashed before his eyes when he confessed to Sasuke that he was like a brother to him. And yet, here, standing on top of a random branch in a pine tree, was his older brother, named after the fourth Hokage and their father; Minato. He looked exactly like him: with the hair, whiskers, and such –and he wore a long sleeved plain gray shirt, wore a dark gray jacket over it, jeans, and light brown boots. A black cloth was tied around his head, his bangs going over it, and it had flame designs on it. oddly enough, though, his right eye was the normal Uzumaki blue, but his left was a dark red, like their mother's, with a weird black and white checkerboard pattern behind it. The young jinchuriki clenched his fists together and asked, "…then where were you…?"

Naruka and Minato had a look of confusion spread across their faces. "Un'yu~?" Naruka questioned. "Aye, speak up; we can't hear you from up here!" Minato informed. "WHERE WERE YOU!? IF YOU TWO HAD ACTUALLY EXISTED IN MY LIFE, THEN WHERE DID YOU GO? HOW DID WE SEPARATE?" More memories of how Naruto was all alone and teased by the villagers passed through his head and only made him angrier. "I was all alone… all the time… I had nobody –or so I thought! How could you just leave me alone like that!?" he continued. "I had to suffer my whole life! And now when I go on some random mission, I suddenly meet my long-lost older sister and brother –and turns out, while my sister was here, my older brother was off somewhere in Suna –Oh, and by the way, _Minato_, I know Temari, _and_ her brothers, because I just so happen to be in good terms with both her brothers; Kankuro, and Gaara!" he spat. "HOW IS IT THAT YOU ALL JUST APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR!? AND YOU DON'T EVEN SAY **SORRY**! THERE'S –"

"Shut up ALREADY!"

Minato and Naruto shared equally matched glares. It was a dead silence as everyone watched the scenario go down. "Shut _up_, Naruto." Minato sneered with malice in his voice. "You know, you're just like _mom_: you talk big words you can't even live up to. _Look_," he began. "If we were able to be with you, than don't you think we would? I'd so much rather me and Naruka live with you from the beginning if we could –be we _couldn't._ You should _think_ more before you _act_ –that would make the lion's prey harder to catch. But we'd _love_ to live with you, _Naruto_. In fact, we'd probably even pack our stuff, and head off towards the Leaf village to get registered and live there and all that crap, but we wouldn't dare do that not only because we like it here –it'd simply be because of all the annoying words people would say to us if we were to walk around _your _village being ourselves –we'd need to hide how we look and change the way we act and behave just to _avoid _those few words. Now what few examples would be the words people say to us, Naruka?" Minato questioned his older sister to prove his point further. Naruka looked down with tear-filled mournful eyes.

"…freak…odd…strange…creeps…weirdos…mutants…monster s…" she began to tremble slightly as fear circled inside her eyes. "…grotesque…unholy…_deformed_…" Naruka's tail and ears drooped, and she roughly wiped away her tears until they were no more, but instead piled up in her eyelids. Minato put his hand on her head in a sort of comforting way, and started up again. "Naruto… I bet you probably would want to understand your overly strange older siblings… I don't know what Naruka would say to that, but all I know is that I really don't think any type of pain you could have possible felt could ever compare to what we were burdened to feel. Simple words like that were enough to crack us 'cause –"there was a croak in Minato's voice, and he paused for a bit. "… 'cause small words like that… back then… were true." Naruto was baffled. _Monster…? Deformed…? What?_ "…What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto questioned. Minato sighed. "_We _were the ones who went through _real_ pain –_real _torture –but I'll admit this to you: what you may think you know oh so much about your past life…" Minato stayed silent for a long while to build up the suspense as he stood perched in front of Naruka, guarding her, and keeping his index and middle finger side by side, pointed directly at Naruto.

"…could possibly be something you don't know at all."

It was as if Naruto's heart stopped beating dead in its track, and he became paralyzed. Gasps emitted from everyone, while the quieter, non-talkative ones like Shino, and Sasuke, tensed up. all with the exception of Gādonā, who breathed out his nose. "Um… N-Naruka… M-M-Minato… how's about you two just drop by once I get back, okay?" Gādonā insisted. Minato kept his glare on Naruto, and briefly nodded, not once letting his glare falter. "Um… yes… of course, Gādonā-sensei... we'll drop by later. Bye…" She answered with a saddened tone. The tiger resembling girl then looked over at Naruto –her younger brother, Naruto. "Bye-bye, Naruto-kun. Get home safely…" just as she and Minato turned to leave, she then looked up at Minato, and added, "Minato-kun, say goodbye to Naruto-kun! It could be like before… you know:" Naruka squeezed his arm, and he looked down at her with simple narrowed eyes. "You'd never think that the last time you see someone would be the last time you _ever_ see them. Let's not have that happen again." Minato stared at her, and sighed. Returning to his icy glare, he looked over at Naruto, and spat, "Right. Later. And by the way," a smirk spread across Minato's face. "Don't you dare stop thinking about us for one second. We might disappear again." His gaze shifted to Gādonā. "Make sure you take good care of Naruto and his friends, Gādonā-teki. Chow." And with that, the two Uzumakis were off to who knows where after Minato gave Hinata a double-take, then a wink. Gādonā sighed once more, this time with slight annoyance evident in his tone, and got back into position, while the others with the exception of Naruto followed his actions. The French pink haired man looked back at Naruto, and said, "Come, Naruto-chan… it's getting late, so since it's just turning into mid-afternoon here, it's about to be nighttime back in your realm, and it's very dangerous at night." He explained and Naruto reluctantly got into running position.

"In thus, we'd better get home as soon as possible." Shikamaru finished. Gādonā looked at him with a smile, and nodded.

"Come."

~.~

Gādonā sprinted off –faster than any normal ninja –and the troop struggled to keep up. He was about 6 meters ahead! _He's fast_, Shikamaru began studying Gādonā, head to toe, and taking in whatever information he could get. The strategist calculated the way he moved, spoke, and behaved, and listened to him speak with Hint. They were currently running alongside an endless beach with millions and millions of trees to its left, and a never-ending body of water to the right. As he studied the man in front of him, he somehow finally noticed the two foot-long bull horns sticking out the sides of Gādonā's head. Picking up the pace, Shikamaru just barely matched pace with the musical nin. "You could slow down some, you know? You're leaving everyone in the dust." He confronted. Gādonā blinked, and looked behind him only to see the rest of the gang about 6 meters and a few feet away. "Oh, opps!" he sang as he slowed his running so that he was going at a normal pace –slow enough for the others to keep up. They continued on running, and after a few seconds passed, Shikamaru began talking to Gādonā. "So… who are you? I can't call you the guy who walked off with Hinata." He asked with curiosity hidden in his voice. Gādonā turned his head towards him, and a slight smirk danced upon his lips. "What's with the sudden questions? Besides, I, too, want to know your name and who you are…" he replied. Shikamaru grinned. "My name's Shikamaru. I'm from the Village Hidden in the Leaf, and my teammates are Ino and Chouji, the one in purple and red. Our Hokage is Lady Tsunade. I'm sure you know her. " Gādonā smiled. "Gādonā Heart. Pleasure to meet you, Shikamaru-san. As you know already, or _should_ know, I live in Ongaku, located in the Hidden Music. Our Oukages are Iowa and Awoi Hula, as _you_ know, and Lady Tsunade…? I'm sorry, but I don't really know her. My teammates were Tina and Vincent, though now, I'm a sensei, Tina's a professional hair stylist, and Vincent is off doing his deadly job. It's unusual, it is, but that's life..."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "A sensei, huh? I already know that blonde-haired girl back there is one of your students, since she called you 'sensei'. What about the other one?" he queried. Gādonā shook his head. "Oh, no; that's Naruka-chan's younger brother, Minato. He and I kind of have a little rivalry going on. Before he left off to Suna to gather more techniques, he vowed that he'd get stronger, and that the next time we meet for real, it'll be in battle; when he's stronger. Strong enough to finally defeat me in combat, fair and square, and through his own exercise of hard training." He explained. "That knuckle-head wouldn't stop at anything until he gets to where he wants to be. Same story for Naruka-chan~!" He sang. The image of Naruto couldn't help but pop into Shikamaru's head. "Makes me think of Naruto… I can already see the resemblance…" He compared. "So; did you notice them?" Gādonā asked. Shikamaru stared at him. "Notice what?" the man with horns then replied, "Well, Shikamaru-san, there's a lot of things I wonder if you or anyone else has noticed, but I was wondering if you've spotted my horns yet. I'm sure you of all people would have noticed already." Shikamaru couldn't help but look at the two foot long horns sticking out his head, and then the smaller ones coming out from the sides of his nose and under his inner eye. He stared for a bit.

"Odd." Was all the chunin could seem to say to the sight.

Gādonā kept his same facial expression –a smile. "The two horns on my head are the horns of an adult male bull, and tusks that once belonged to a child elephant." He informed. _Once?_ Shikamaru thought. "What do you mean _once?_" The smile on Gādonā's face turned into a straight line. "…No comment…" he muttered. Shikamaru watched him for a bit more, and decided to let it pass. _Although this'll be a huge drag, I'm __**going **__to figure out what he means…_, he thought to himself. "If that's the case, it must be personal. Don't worry; I'm not exactly the curious type like a few others behind us." Gādonā nodded, and Shikamaru then questioned, "Well, then, _Gādonā_; how do you plan on getting us home, exactly?" the smile on Gādonā's face returned, and the expression on the man's face become utterly calm as he turned his head forward. "Like I said before…" he started. "…there's a lot of things I wonder if any of you has noticed yet. This is one of the many things." Gādonā then began talking softly as he explained. "Ongaku, the Village Hidden in the Music, is a very beautiful place, is it not…?" he glanced at Shikamaru. The chunin gave the secluded area a brief scan, and nodded in agreement. "It's something to look at." Gādonā, with his never-ending smile, then continued explaining things while looking forward again. "Well, they say that the earth is a very magnificently beautiful extravaganza, _if_ you take good care of it. It took us a while to create this place –all from scratch…" This perked Shikamaru's interest.

"Created from scratch? You're telling me you people created all this?"

"From the million grains of dirt and sand, to all the living plants and creatures, to the buildings and their interior designs, all the way up to the sun and moon –even messing around with the way time works and what's considered day or night." Gādonā clarified. "It took so long –and yet, we managed to do it all in such little time. It was quite extraordinary… but that's describing everyone who lives in the village –E.T…." Shikamaru kept his gaze on him. "…Extraterrestrial?" Gādonā bobbed his head. "And not only that, but to really answer your question, I'm simply going to guide you to the Guarding Gates of Forgotten Dreams, or for short: Gates of Guarding or Forgotten Gates." He said. A small humph full of light amusement emitted from the depths of Shikamaru's voice. "There's a lot to take in from this village… it's interesting." He stated. Gādonā grinned, and nodded. "Once I bring you to the Forgotten Gates, we will be at the barrier that splits reality and fantasy apart. The entire village and everything surrounding it is simply things put together by all of our dreams and others' dreams, just –simply… forgotten." They came upon a bridge made of stone, and sped across it, and onto the ground substituted with clouds. "We're getting close to the Forgotten Gates…" Gādonā called. It was silent as they continued on with their journey. Other than the clouds pieced together to form the surface beneath them, surrounding them seemed to be an endless sky, the colors orange filling the sky's main hue, with a small amount of blue tinting the orange, pink, and purple. The setting sun was in the distance to the right, nice and huge –almost as if up close –but it didn't hurt your eyes when you looked directly at it. "That's odd; my eyes don't hurt when I look directly at the sun…" Sakura proclaimed. A few others, including Hinata, instantly looked towards the sun, and were surprised when they didn't feel the strong urge to shut their eyes, or look away, or feel the burning sting of the sun rays.

"The sun here in the fantasy realm is the same sun from the reality realm, same as the moon and stars, though from here, the sun is simply like a ball of bright light with a translucent cover over it. So it's okay to stare as long as you wish, if it'll make you feel better." Gādonā came to a stop when very, very, very, _very_ tall barred gates made of pure silver stood a yard or so away from them. Ten men in black suits lined up each side of the silver gates, and there was a long black, thick board that went across the top of the gate, and on the part to the left, it read, "Such a sorrowful way of parting is saying 'goodbye'…" while the part on the right finished it off with: "…but we'll meet again." A circle-shaped lock was down near the bottom where it was reachable, and a man in a black suit stepped forward. Ino gasped, and gazed at the wings full of rainbow colored feathers flapping behind the man's back, and a mask was pulled on his head towards the left to show his young face and the obvious grin plastered on his lips. Like all the other men, he wore the signature black suit. Piercings of all random colors ran down his ears, and he had a wild looking Mohawk with all different colors in a random pattern. "Hey! So I see you all seem to be heading back to wherever the heck you came from! God knows why you all ended up in this whacko place in the start!" He assumed. Ino chuckled. "Yeah, we're just heading back to Konoha. Are you like –some rainbow angel or something?" the man began laughing like a maniac and ruffled his colorful feathers. He looked at her with glee, so you could see the faint wrinkles by his eyes. They weren't the wrinkles you'd see on elders, though; they were more like joyful wrinkles, something you get when you happen to smile or laugh a lot, or so some say.

"Angel? Never! Angels stay in heaven –DUH! I'm a parrot!" He shouted happily. Ino blinked. "A… parrot?" she questioned. "A… parrot?" The random parrot-man mimicked rustling his feathers in between.

"So you're gonna copy me now?" Ino deadpanned.

"So you're gonna copy me now?"

"Stop copying me, it's annoying!" She became easily frustrated, and only resulted in amusing the half animal half man.

"Stop copying me, it's annoying!"

"STOP IT ALREADY!"

"Stop it already~!"

"I SAID, _STOP!_" Ino came at the fellow with her fist, which was easily blocked by a group of colorful feathers. She then counteracted with a kick, punches, more kicks, paper bombs, kunais, ninja stars, even used a shuriken (A/N: I'm not even sure if she can, let alone _know_ how to use a shuriken) and yet it was all blocked by a simple gathering of feathers. "You're making female ninjas look bad. Is that all you can do? Weak~!" he sang. A sudden kick to the stomach sent Ino flying back a few feet, and the parrot guy was tripped by a lavender skinned man. A light purple scarf was wrapped around his neck and levitating off the ground, he had purple eyes, light cyan metrosexual styled hair, a black bandana, the normal black attire, and carried a multiple-colored umbrella in a case strapped onto his back. "Get back in line, Patron!" he commanded. The parrot guy grumbled, but did as he was told, and the lavender guy turned to the group with a smile. "O.D.S.S.; Gino Masque." Gādonā stated politely as he firmly shook the man's hand. "Gādonā Heart." Gino returned the friendly gesture. "Alright, so these fellows have to leave, right?" when Gādonā nodded in reply, Gino resumed talking. "If that's so, then there's some rules you must know…" he then began talking to the group of Konoha ninjas behind Gādonā.

"One: note that The Hidden Music is developed in the fantasy realm, in the part where all forgotten dreams that have been dreamt are. In thus, in the beginning, this'll all be a bit hazy, and you'll be a little unsure of whether all this had really happened or no, but if continue to visit, it'll quickly become clear and you'll really remember this as clearly as the best day of your life."

"Two: a Flash is required. What's a Flash exactly? It's a skinny lavender rectangular device that we use to  
"fog" up a person or group of people's mind once they leave, unless they are a citizen of Ongaku, and cause their memory of being here to seem hazy. You know –like a dream, almost."

"Three: do _**not **_go around blabbering on about The Hidden Music, and Ongaku, and the odd citizens that you've met and seen. This village is eager to be known, yet at the same time, wants to stay 'hidden' for a little while longer. Knowing the Oukages, they believe that it's about time the village starts making allies. It's… complicated, really. If you're going to talk, don't speak too much, or else a ninja or group of ninjas, or maybe even an O.D.S.S. member will literally hunt you down and confront you about what you told."

"Four:" Gino then grinned, and finished, "…such a sorrowful way of parting is saying, 'Goodbye'; but we'll meet again." Some of the leaf ninjas smiled, and Naruto began to feel sort of hollow. He had been thinking to himself about his older brother and sister all day, and about what Minato said. His day had been long, frustrating, depressing, confusing, a little scary because of what Minato and Naruka told him about their past (A/N: If only you knew, Naruto…), and just downright _odd_. The people he's seen and met are all strange and weird. It's all so unusual to him; yet… it's all something his brother and sister are used to. His older brother and sister, Minato and Naruka, are used to walking through town and seeing people with wings and horns, or half animal half humans. And they're used to talking with mythical creatures, and seeing people with odd skins, and strange eye colors and voices –along with weird personalities and bios –same with things like: likes, dislikes, and interests. Those two are used to all the bright lights that light up the town, the almost endless streets that somehow still fill you with wonder –no matter how many times you may have visited that place or so before – and all the interesting, fun, musical, and most of the time danceable things to do in that village to keep them occupied. They have friends, who are odd like them. Putting Naruto in between his sister and brother, looking at it from their side, _he_ seems to be more of the freak, rather than them. Because unlike them, he doesn't have what many others would consider 'odd'. He doesn't have animal ears or tails pop out of him, and the nine-tails' chakra doesn't count, since that's pretty much just a chakra cape. Honestly, it's kind of hard to put together a resemblance other than his looks and a bit of his behavior. I mean –he doesn't growl like an animal, like Naruka does, or have an exotic attire that makes him look superior and strong, as if he was forced to make a decent living in the wild while looking good at it. He also didn't resemble Minato that much, either. He didn't have long, amazing hair like him, or any real features of their mother. Minato seemed to be the only one in their small broken family to have something that actually belongs to their mother; though he was lucky enough to _not_ get her loud, dramatic, impatient, and ridiculous traits, like Naruto and Naruka. Instead, he was strong and a decent-talker, like their dad. Going in order, Naruto's parents had their first child, which was actually a girl with the spirit of a tiger, never showing, let alone knowing, of her tiger ears and tails, named Naruka Uzumaki (A/N: Her middle name's June. Though nobody knows that yet. Naruka June Uzumaki; awesome right?). Later on, they had another child, though this one was a boy, who had an odd looking eye, named Minato Jr. Joey Uzumaki. Finally, after a while later, they had a third child, in which they sealed the nine-tailed beast in; Naruto Uzumaki.

"OPEN THE GATES!"

But then again… if their parents had two other children before him, then how is it nobody knew of them? No… surely _someone_ had to know what happened. _Maybe Grandma Tsunade knows…_ after the flash that made their minds fuzzy, they wobbly went over to the gates where Gādonā stood. "Well… let's get going to Konoha." Gādonā smiled.

~.~.~

The eight shinobi and their doggy companion were sprinting through the dark forest, depending on Hinata's Byakugan. Hinata and Gādonā were in the front, while the rest were behind. Gādonā looked over at Hinata, and asked, "Doesn't your Byakugan require to be summoned? Not only that, but doesn't it exhaust you when using it for a certain amount of time?" Hinata smiled at him. "Um… o-only sometimes do I g-get a little tired. And it's true, I do need to summon the Byakugan i-in order to u-use it. Why?" She answered. "Because;" Gādonā started, "I have a new eye, called the Mite Ora. Once translated, you can see it roughly means 'seeing aura'. I do believe the name speaks for itself when I say I can see auras. I love aura-seeing! I can easily see all auras and all their different colors, like blue, green, red, yellow, white, black, pink, and so on. The Mite Ora is so easy to use, simply because using it is unavoidable. You _have_ to use it, because it's something you don't have to summon, nor do you control it. They're very useful, though!" Gādonā explained. "With my aura vision, in combat, I have many advantages! If only I could show you…"

As soon as he said that, Hinata let out a shriek when her foot got stuck in a net. The rope pulled her up quickly, and everyone stopped and turned towards the original spot Hinata was in. "Hinata!" Gādonā called. When he got a muffled noise as a reply, he immediately turned himself invisible just as large amount of ninjas came jumping out of their hiding spots. "What the…!" Sakura, Shikamaru, and all the others got into a fighting stance. "It's an ambush!" Shikamaru stated. "Everyone! Get ready to battle!" he commanded. Everyone did as they were told. While the leaf shinobi were fending off the multiple of ninjas, Gādonā, while in his invisible state, began crawling up the trunk of the tree where he and Hinata were. He then had a full view of the top of the trees. Gādonā scoped the area, and saw a figure carrying Hinata sprinting off towards the northeast. A low growl came from Gādonā, and he began sprinting at his inhuman speed. The bull-elephant man easily caught up with the kidnapper. "Hint…" he whispered low enough for only his pet animal to hear. "… let's play a game. Scat." Hint jumped off his horn and began jumping on top of the trees below them so that it was a foot in front of Gādonā. A kunai was thrown at the kidnapper's ankle, and on direct hit, he went tumbling down after a grunt of pain. The two soundlessly followed him down to where he fell, and noticed Hinata trying to free herself. "Did you do this, you brat?" He accused Hinata. She glared at him, and continued struggling, not even bothering to answer the bad man's question. He got up shakily, and pulled the kunai out of his ankle. Blood covered the sharp metal like a dark gel, and the drops of blood fell down on Hinata's legs. "Ignoring me, huh? How impolite…" the violet hair that was connected to Hinata's scalp was gripped firmly in the man's hand, and he yanked her hair to the left.

Hinata grunted in agony as her neck was stretched out. Putting the kunai up to the bottom of her ear, he pressed down gently, so that the cool blood-covered metal only made her skin ache. Chuckles came out from the man's throat, and he slowly began pressing harder. Blood trickled down Hinata's neck, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she started trying to block out the painful sensation. _Naruto… guys…_ Naruto and the others were gradually getting out-numbered by the amount of ninjas they soon figured out was from the Village Hidden in the Snow. Kiba grunted in annoyance. "Just how many snow ninjas are there!? I promise, this is like an endless battle!" He complained. "Fang over Fang!" he and Akamaru were headed for the four snow shinobi in front of them, but they all dodged the attack and counteracted with a series of explosive kunais. Each kunai struck Kiba and Akamaru, sending the two into the ground below where a large crater was. "Kiba!" Sai called out for his companion as his dragon like drawings flew out of the paper. The triplet slim dragons flew straight into the air, and came down in a spiral while breathing fire at the nine snow ninjas near. Six of the ninjas made it out the way, while the other three burned into dust. "There's too many of them!" Sakura notified as she healed Kiba and Akamaru. "_RASENGAN!" _Naruto and his copies threw their giant balls of chakra energy at each of their opponents, and suddenly they all disappeared, leaving the real Naruto revealed. "I don't get where they're all coming from! How long can we keep this up!?" He cried. Shikamaru continued on with his shadow manipulation as he tried to come up with a plan for their current situation. _What a drag… first the others and I had to get thrown around every different way in some village, and right when we're finally about to go home, we get ambushed, Hinata gets kidnapped, and that Gādonā guy disappears into thin air. Just what we needed…_ he complained in his mind. _Alright; so there's more ninjas than we alone, can fight. Hinata and Gādonā are gone, and it's unknown where they are. Maybe_… (a/n: Okay, I had to stop it there cause unlike Shikamaru, I am NOT a strategist! I have absolutely NO FREAKIN' IDEA WHATSOEVER on how to counteract to this! Thinking back on it, I'd be a rubbish ninja, and in a situation like this, I would definitely die :P)

Back with Hinata, her thoughts then drifted off. _Gādonā-kun… help…_ rustling was heard in towards the right, and the man quickly through a new kunai in the noise's direction. "So what do we got here?" he wondered aloud as he left Hinata to see what made the noise. "Some kid who can't keep his nose out –"he stood there, stunned, when he didn't see anthing. Suddenly, he was annoyed. "Alright, so ya wanna play games with me huh?" he shouted as he pulled out a few ninja stars and three kunais. "If you're really that brave, how's about you show just how much of a man you are by coming out and fighting me!" the mysterious kidnapper challenged. It was a few seconds of silence, and as soundlessly as ever, Gādonā hopped down from the tree he was in. "Ah…" the man studied him from head to toe, and tried to guess what abilities he could possibly have. "So you're the sucker who decided to be stupid enough to mess with me?" in a second the man's kunai met with the left horn on Gādonā's head. The kidnapper became slightly creeped out at the horns he just then realized were sticking out of the fellow's head, and jumped back a couple of feet. Gādonā slowly and silently walked closer, and the moon shone on the left side of his face, making his eyes look colder and darker than usual. It also made all four of his horns stick out scarily, and his blank expression was uncomforting. Altogether, this made Gādonā look more eerie to the kidnapper, and said man rigidly got into a fighting stance. He gulped. "a-alright… you've got some mean looks, I'll give you that. But if you think you can intimidate me, then I suggest you start by making a move." Gādonā stood still for about a minute as his eyebrows slowly began furrow. More and more and more until he looked furious.

"God didn't give things horns if they weren't for use…" he muttered audibly enough for Hinata and the man to hear.

Suddenly, in a flash, he disappeared, and you could hear the loud thudding pounding against the tree trunks as Gādonā crawled over them with speed. "Argh!" the man's hands immediately reach up to his side to try and do something to conceal the deep wound already made in his side abdomen. Red trickled and poured down onto his leg, and the man doubled over in pain as another _deep_ wound was created on the opposite side of his abdomen. More blood cascaded down and soaked the ninja's pants, and the poor man was on his knees. Ninja stars were thrown, and left small cuts all over his upper body in the front and back. The loud thudding stopped, and Gādonā was crouched on a low branch where the moonlight reflected on his face. The blank expression was back, and blood covered the bull horns on Gādonā's head like nasty smelling paint. The twenty-two year old sat there in silence for a few seconds as he watched the fellow ninja slowly look up at him in horror. "…Who are you, erpresser?" Gādonā asked quietly (A/N: 'erpresser' is German for 'Kidnapper'). The man had enough guts to glare at the bull-elephant ninja, and spat, "T-That's… none of your business." Gādonā stared at the man with a calm face.

An unnatural smile spread across Gādonā's face, and he slowly nodded. "Yes…" he paused. "…you're right. How's about you make a move, now. I've already gotten my turn." The compressed shinobi stared at the scary figure in front of him, and even Hinata felt a little unnerved. _Gādonā… what's with you?_ Memories of when she first met Gādonā flashed through her head. When she first had met him, he was kind, warm, light-hearted, gentle, and looked and acted as harmless as a butterfly! He behaved then as if he couldn't harm a single thing, but now… Hinata shook her head. "Gādonā… what are you doing?" is what she wanted to ask. Though, she was unable to because of the duct tape tightly wrapped around her head. The foreign shinobi decided to be rebellious, and stood –trembling as he did so. Gādonā's grin grew wider, and Hint hopped onto his bloody left horn, its fur suddenly turned a dark burgundy color with black replacing the color of the parts of its fur that used to be pink. The man unsteadily brought his fingers together to do a jutsu. "…I-Ice Style: R-Rainbow P-piercing Jutsu…" he did a few hand signs, and thunder was heard from above. Gādonā's expression was stoic again, and ice crystals of different colors began shooting down. The bull-elephant man slowly rised, and brought up his hand to do a justu himself. "Ice Style: Rainbow Piercing Jutsu." He stared blankly as he copied the same signs his opponent did.

"W-What!?"

The ice ninja was stunned to see that Gādonā copied his Ice Style perfectly –the icicles came raining down from another growing dark gray cloud, and they sprinkled down in all different colors. "Wha –how? Impossible! How could you copy my jutsu like that and get it perfect!?" he cried out in disbelief. Gādonā stared with his stoned expression. "… My eyes; are the newest eyes created –I'm the only one in the entire ninja world to have these eyes. It's called the Mite Ora, and the Mite Ora helps me to see all living things' emotions, including plants. I have many abilities that would let me defeat you in less than a minute, but where's the fun in that? The first ability right now that I'm using would be Aura Mimicry. Aura Mimicry lets me see my opponent's aura, copy all movements, and understand emotions." He explained. The ninja grunted in annoyance, and ran at him with a large ice shuriken. "Can ya copy _THIS!?_" The ninja threw the shuriken at Gādonā, and his shuriken was immediately counteracted with a large mirror image shuriken. He became more annoyed, and did more jutsus, threw more shurikens, kunais, and ninja stars. Finally, in his last act of anger, and pulled out a shuriken and three kunais, and threw 'em. _Paper bombs…_ Gādonā noted in his head. _I could just mimic his attack, but then again, it would result in a bigger explosion… _the paper bombs erupted in a big explosion once it came into contact with Gādonā. The smoke covered the area, and quickly began to fade away. The ice ninja chuckled, saying, "Heh… not so tough are ya now?" once the smoke was all clear, he was shocked to see that Gādonā wasn't there. "What the – !?" he exclaimed. Whipping his head around to give the area a quick scan, he noted that not only was Gādonā gone, but Hinata was too. "Rgh! That stupid ninja!" he growled, clenching his raised fist. "I'm not that stupid if I managed to escape your attack _with _your victim in only a matter of seconds." The man became even more so terrified of Gādonā. Not only had he changed dramatically in appearance, but also in his voice. Gādonā's voice was now rough and grudged –unlike his soft and smooth voice. His fair skin had turned into a lipstick red color, and around his eyes, face, and other parts of his body was thick black make-up that went in utterly confusing patterns.

The make-up surrounding his eyes reminded Hinata of Hint, with the way they rimmed his eyes, and had a sideways line in the bottom corner of his orbs. Speaking of eyes, his were a scary deep purple –the type of purple you'd mistake for black –and a red circle with a smaller pink circle was in the center, and red lines in them resembling horns. Gādonā's fandango long-sleeved undershirt was torn to shreds leaving his toned chest (A/N: and on Hinata's behalf, it was an 8-pack) revealed, and the odd markings trailed down all the way to where his heart is, and an outlining of Hint was there in a plum color. Gādonā stared creepily. "Let's play a game…" he started. A shiver ran up Hinata's spine, and she scooted away a few inches. "…this game is call 20 Questions of _Death…_" he spat the last word with venom and threat shown clearly as day in his tone, and the man froze. Another gulp. "…First question…" Gādonā paused. "… who are you, spielzeug?" he questioned darkly. The man looked terrified, and gulping, before shakily answering the question. "… I-I'm… Minezuna Aaiko (MIN-NEE-ZOO-NUH, IE-KOH)… a shinobi from the Hidden Ice…" _The Hidden Ice… could it possibly be…?_ "You and your fellow shinobi ambushed my acquaintances and I. it's easy to tell that you all were sent to follow us, and then attack…" Gādonā clarified. "… so I will ask you; who sent you?" The man didn't answer this time.

"…"

"Silence is an invalid answer. Two more tries, or death." An electric pink started to circle around Gādonā's head, and grew bigger with each second. The man grunted in annoyance, and was about to speak until Gādonā beat him to the punch.

"Grunts, groans, moans, and so on are not valid. One more try." Gādonā updated. The man began to sweat nervously. "U-um… I can't tell." He retorted. Gādonā was silent.

"…Do remember, this is _your_ life on the line. I'll be nice and give you one more try. I already have an idea of who it may be, but I want to hear it from your mouth…" _Tormenting him like how the others and I were tormented would be too much. One simple shot…_

The man hesitated more. "D…D….Dun… Roe..." he murmured. Gādonā stared at him sinisterly, before suddenly looking very normal. The redness in his skin started to fade and turn into a vanilla color again, and his eyes and other things that had changed turned normal once again. He smiled widely and sincerely. "Thank you, Minezuna-san. I really didn't look forward to harming anyone today, and I was afraid for a second I'd have to end you, but I'm glad I didn't." Hinata smiled. _This is who Gādonā really is…_ she thought,_ not that scary guy he was a few seconds ago._ She then frowned, and wondered,_ but is that the last time I'll see that scary guy? Was that even the first time it happened?_ "Anyways, you should get back –"

"No!"

Gādonā blinked at the man's reply. "…Um… e-excuse m-me?" he needed to hear this again. Why would this ninja just give up his life –after being let free, too? "Just… just _kill_ me already…" Minezuna restated. Gādonā blinked once more in confusion. "U-U-Um… I-I'm perplexed… you want me to kill you, _why_, exactly?" He questioned. Minezuna grunted in annoyance. "I'd rather die as the trader I already am now instead of living as a liar, which I am also…" he started. "I'm not a robot… "Gādonā flinched as a certain someone came into mind. "… I'm _human_. And like most humans, pain is something I don't want to have to feel. I've felt it numerous times already, but like any other being, when times get rough, I'll bail. So go ahead and kill me; I'm not looking forward to living my life as a trader _and_ a liar." Gādonā was silent, with his mouth in a straight line, before a small smile spread across his face. "Well, then," he started kindly. "Do you want me to use my horns? That'd be the easiest and quickest way out of it all." Gādonā insisted. The man let out a gruff huff of semi-amusement, and said, "No –I want the longest, toughest, and most painful way of dying with whatever ability you could possibly have in order to make me feel pain. I want to die after a long time of discipline and excruciating pain." Gādonā's smile turned into a faint one. "Well… if you're sure… tell me if you change your mind."

Reluctantly, Gādonā raised his hands, and did a few signs. "Melody Style; Psionic Inundation:" the signs stopped, and both Gādonā's index and middle finger were pressed together. He slowly raised them to his temples, making sure to take his slow precious time just to get a few seconds before painfully ending the poor guy, and finally placed them on his temples. "… Mental Overload…" Minezuna grabbed his pulsing head and let out all sorts of moans, howls, groans, and whines and whimpers of pain. He turned a bright pinkish-red, and was squirming on the ground. He rolled around a bit, and Hinata watched silently while Gādonā with displeasure. "You were obviously a great ninja…" he smiled light-heartedly. "… the God and Goddess of monsters look upon you with a smile…" Turning, Gādonā tipped his upper body over, blocking out the screams of the ninja behind him, and began unwrapping the duct tape and rope while Hinata continued eying the suffering shinobi in front of them. Minezuna suddenly rolled flat on his back, and was twitching for a good minute, and then stopped altogether. Blood decanted from his eyes, nose, mouth ears, and any other part of his body to could release fluids.

Hinata's eyes widened in horror just as the bull-elephant man finished freeing her from her restraints. Gādonā noticed her staring at the scenario behind them, and sighed while picking the Hyuga up bridal style. "Hinata-chan…" he started softly. As much as Hinata wanted to remove her gaze from the man in the pool of blood now flowing out around him, she distinctively said, "…huh? What?" Gādonā looked at her with a woeful smile. "Please remember that everything you saw…" he trailed off a bit. "… is nothing worth burdening yourself with remembering. I don't want you expecting to see that every time I'm in battle and you happen to be there. But it all begins emotionally." He clarified. The Hyuga stayed silent, and with another soft sigh, the music shinobi began heading back where the others most –likely were.

~.~.~

Once Gādonā and Hinata arrived, they looked over the large battle in shock. "W-What happened w-when we were gone!?" Hinata questioned. Gādonā's mouth was agape. "This… T-T-T-This is outr-rageous!" He stuttered. His head snapped towards Hinata, along with Hint, and he said, "Hinata-chan, do forgive me, but in times like these, it's best for Yasei to surface."

"Hint!" the small fuzzy creature's ears and tail perked up to the sound of its name coming from Gādonā's mouth. "Let's merge… once more." He instructed. The animal chirped some, before jumping onto the ground, and circling Gādonā's feet at an impeccable speed. Like a ring-scanner, the animal gradually began floating up to the top, making Gādonā turn back into the evil-looking character he was before. His now thick black tresses drooped and looked slick –as if he had stepped out of water –though at the end it quivered like flames eating away at wood in a small fire place, and the futuristic gray headsets were a black color, matching his hair, hung around his neck. He narrowed his eyes, and spoke, "I'm going in…" and jumped out into the middle of the fight. As soon as Sakura looked over at the merged Gādonā, she began to freak. "Who's that!?" she squealed in fright. Naruto and the others looked towards the man with red skin, and became unnerved themselves. "Really!? First an ambush, then a dark, scary, unexpected visitor!? _THIS IS GETTING REAL ANNOYING NOW!_" Ino yelled angrily, fed up with all the nonsense. The "dark" character smiled. "It's only me; Gādonā –the one who led you all out of Ongaku. No need to worry, I'll end this quick." He turned towards the large amounts of Ice ninja, and held out a hand. A deep purple staff with a vine crawling up and onto the raven colored spear tip at the top. Gādonā began muttering some words in German, and ended it with, "…Goddess of trust... Fides… God of faith… Pistis… God of threaded lives… Clothos… God of death… Celtic… God of love… Eros… Goddess of strength… Nike… Goddess of war… Ares..." an spark of electrical light began forming on the very tip of the spear-like staff. "…I summon your powers." With that, 7 gigantic tombstones rose, and slowly opened.

Every single one of the ice ninjas were being sucked in –body part by body part –all the way until there were no more. And there were a _lot _of them. Once all the ninjas were gone, it was a silence as Gādonā scanned the area. He sighed.

"Dun-chan… please come out and explain yourself." He commanded. Everyone's eyes widened. "_DUN ROE!?_" As Gādonā expected, Dun from back at Minnie, Queen, Ita, and Sugar's house (along with Maze and Miles) stepped out of the shade that kept him hidden. Gādonā sighed once again, but it came out ragged and full of annoyance. "Dun-chan… why'd you ambush us?" Dun laughed, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Um… well, ya see –I didn't mean any harm –"

"NO HARM!? YOU COULD'VE HAD US KILLED!" Naruto yelled angrily. This one ice shinobi was seriously trying to proclaim that he hadn't meant any harm after ambushing them? _What an idiot…_ Naruto thought (A/N: *rolling eyes and clicking tongue* And that's coming from you –of all people!). Dun stared for a short second, before glaring. "… I _didn't_ mean harm. I sent them out to _scare_ you, not murder. But apparently these dumb ninjas can't follow one simple order correctly. I just –I just didn't like the thought of the Staff, my cousin and her three friends, wandering off with a bunch of random ninjas from some leaf village!" Gādonā's mouth was in a very faint smile. "But, Dun-chan… they were walking around town; plenty of folk were there to step in if any of these leaf shinobi were to try something dirty, and you know that. There was no need for any of this, even if it were just to give a small scare." Gādonā confronted. Dun frowned, and exhaled while bending over as he did so. "…I'm sorry people of the Leaf… I didn't mean to cause any chaos, or whatever…" he exhaled once more, and stood straight, and powerfully said, "I, Dun Roe, formally apologize to the fellow shinobi of the Leaf." He grinned, and the leaf ninjas decided to forgive. "Yeah, yeah, just don't do it again; alright?" Shikamaru waved it off, and Dun's grin grew wider. Gādonā smiled at the sight, and said with a calm expression as he returned to his normal form. "Well, then… now that that's settled, let's go to the Leaf Village~!" He sung happily as he began jogging and jumped up onto a branch. Turning, he waved at Dun while the leaf shinobi followed after him.

~.~.~

Finally, the group arrived at the gates of Konoha, and Gādonā stayed on the branch near the trees while the others went on ahead in. noticing this, Hinata stopped, and looked back at Gādonā, hiding half his body behind the giant tree. Her brows kitted in confusion. "Gādonā-kun," said man flinched slightly at the sound of his name being called out loud. "What are you doing? A-aren't you c-coming? Y-you could meet the H-Hokage, maybe…" she suggested with a small smile. Gādonā was still hesitant about the thought, but reluctantly stepped out of the shade where the light began to pour onto his face. His tusks were retracted, though with his bull horns on his head and odd-looking eyes, he still stuck out like a sore thumb. Gādonā hopped down and speed walked over to where Hinata was standing, and she smiled, but gasped slightly when she remembered the horns. _The blood…_ Hinata finally understood why Gādonā was trying to hide in shade –the blood on his horns, making him look like some type of demon or evil creature! But even without the blood, horns aren't something you see on a person often...

Hinata beamed at the obviously uncomfortable Gādonā. "Don't worry, Gādonā-kun… you'll be by me the entire time. Nothing bad will happen." She assured. The bull-elephant man looked at Hinata's face with uneasiness. "Hinata…" the Hyuga blushed madly at the use of no honorific to her name. "...excuse me for not using an honorific like I would, but honestly –you may be able to convince me that it'll be alright, but I highly doubt you could assure me that I won't still be a freak, here…" he retorted with a frown. A _frown_. Come on, now this is Gādonā Heart we're talking about! He never frowns! The only time he ever comes real close to a frown would be whenever his mouth turns into a thin line! Hinata was shocked. "…G-Gādonā-kun…" said man just sighed with a hint of annoyance, and gently grabbed her hand with an uneasy smile.

"Please," he said. "Lead the way, and I'll follow…"

~.~.~

Jumping roof to roof as fast as they could, they finally came upon the Hokage's Tower. "Wait," Hinata ceased running at Gādonā's voice. "Hinata-chan, I really don't think it'd be a smart idea to just try and walk by those guards with me by your side." Hinata frowned. It's unfair that she couldn't just walk around with him without any mishaps… she scanned the area, and remembered the entrance on the sides of the building where there were no guards. And it went _straight_ into the hallway that lead into the bathroom that connected to the Hokage's room, too." She smiled happily, and said, "Follow me, but be absolutely quiet." Gādonā grinned at this comment, and raised his eyebrow with amusement. "Hinata-chan, you've seen me fight before, so you would know that I can be as silent as the breeze." Without any warning, he gingerly picked Hinata up bridal-style, and looked at her, saying, "Tell me where to go, and I'll get us there, Hinata-chan~!" Blushing, she pointed. "U-Um… j-just go th-that w-way, towards the r-red r-r-railing o-o-o-o-o-on the s-s-side…!" the purple-haired girl began stuttering as Gādonā shifted her into a position that was more comfortable to him, and pulled her firmly to his chest. "Right~!" He sang happily. Sprinting off at the unreal speed he was before, they were already on the inner part of the red railing, keeping folk from falling and the part that was near the wall. "Go down this way to the door b-by the wall." She instructed. Gādonā decided to walk, and when they arrived at the dead-end with the door to the right of the pair, Hint hopped off of Gādonā's bloody right horn, and peered up at the silver bar handle.

"Pohyei…?" the tiny creature questioned. Gādonā chuckled, and said, "Yes, Hint, it's a door. Come on now, boy, do you think you can handle this one?" Hint looked up at his owner, and looked back up at the door handle. Wagging his tail a bit, Hint shaped it into a spring, and began bouncing higher and higher until his tail came up and wrapped around the sideways handle. Using all his might, he swung himself upright on the handle, and jumped down on it so a click was heard. The door was cracked open now, and Gādonā and Hinata watched with a smile meanwhile Hint dropped onto the ground, sniffed the crack between the door and the wall a bit, before using his tail to pry the door open –wide enough for the two to enter. Gādonā's smile turned into an open-mouthed grin, and he beamed at the fuzzy animal with joy and proudness. "Hint! I am so proud! I knew you could do it! I'll give you your treat soon, alright?" the animal began squirming and squealing happily, and Hinata giggled. Gādonā examined the small room, and sweat-dropped. "Um… H-H-Hinata-chan… this is a restroom…" he stated. Hinata nodded. "I know," she replied. "But it's the only place that gets us directly into the hallway that leads to Lady Tsunade's room without any guards there." She answered. The smile on the bull-elephant man's face didn't fade, but his eyebrows knitted together unsurely. "Hinata-chan," said girl looked up at him questioningly. "I really don't know much about this place and its people, so know that I trust you enough to say I believe whatever you may say about this village." He confronted. Hinata blushed, and looked down shyly with a matching smile. _He trusts me…_

Going into the small bathroom, Hint shut the door behind him, and opened the bathroom's main door by repeating what he had done before; earning himself two walnuts (he loves them). The duo and the fuzzy creature once again perched on Gādonā's shoulder came upon a door. It was a silence, and Gādonā softly placed Hinata on her feet. The twenty-two year old and his pet, Hint, stared at the door with many emotions passing through their eyes –well, Gādonā's eyes. _Anxiety, uneasiness, calmness, fear, dread, joy… what?_ Hinata squinted her eyes in confusion when she finished noting the feelings she saw passing through his deep magenta orbs. "Is something wrong, Hinata-chan?" she jumped at the sudden question, and Gādonā bent his head to look at her (he was six foot, after all). "U-Um… no, everything's fine…" she lied. Honestly, she was worried. Why was it so hard for Gādonā to simply come out in public to another village? As a matter of fact, how come _nobody _from the Village Hidden in the Music likes coming out to the public eye? What would happen? Sure, they're all weird, odd, creepy, and just downright freaky –in both looks and personality for most of them –but overall, they're still very nice, interesting, multi-cultural people, and they'd be an amazing edition to plenty of smart villages. I mean, it's not like there's some big, dark and scary secret them and the Oukages are trying to hide from the world! Gādonā inhaled, and exhaled, and grabbed the cool handle. "One…Two…Three…" he muttered. As he opened the door, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Sai, Chouji, Shino, Kiba and his dog, Akamaru –including the Hokage – turned to look at the two. "I was wondering what kept you two so long! I really need some ramen…" Naruto whined, clutching his rumbling stomach. Gādonā's brows were still furrowed, and he said with his same uneasy smile, "I'm very sorry that I slowed Hinata down. I was planning on simply bringing you all to the entrance of your village, but Hinata-chan insisted on me meeting Lady... Tsunade…?" Tsunade and Shizune stared at Gādonā indifferently; purely stunned at the sight before them. After a few seconds of staring, snapping out of her daze, she noticed Gādonā's violent twitching in his brow and left hand, and his forced smile.

"Uh…" Tsunade cleared her throat. "… I see you all brought a friend." She stated. "Yeah; this is Gādonā Heart, a music shinobi from Ongaku, the Village Hidden in the Music. He's the one who lead us out of there, saved us from being ambushed, and brought us here." Shikamaru clarified. Gādonā flinched when Shikamaru spoke the information he had gained from his earlier talk with him. "U-Um… yes." He spoke. The bull-elephant man began flailing his arms around saying, "B-B-B-B-B-B-But p-p-p-p-please e-excuse m-me for the unholy sight o-o-of my h-horns… it was all f-from b-b-b-battle, I-I assure you!" Lady Tsunade eyed him, and smiled secretly at how he reminded her of the shy shinobi next to him. "Gādonā Heart from the Village Hidden in the Music; Ongaku? From the little story I heard, your village is very strange. In a good way." She complimented. Gādonā's furrowed brows eased a bit, and he smiled genuinely this time. "R-Really? You t-think so?" despite how much he wanted to, he couldn't start uttering everything about the village and its people and culture, and etcetera. Not only would he be breaking the third rule of the Hidden Music, but he'd get interrogated by the O.D.S.S. and then by the Oukages themselves. "So: tell me about your village." Tsunade sat back in her chair, a bottle of alcohol in her hand. The twenty-two year old gulped. "My…my village?" he questioned. Tsunade nodded. "Yeah –tell about your village, and its weird people." She took a large gulp of the drink in her hand. There goes that twitchy eyebrow again! "U-Um… Miss Lady Tsunade… I'm afraid I can't –"vibrating cut Gādonā off, and he held out his hand. A silver compass-looking object appeared in his hand, and flipped open, showing the small holographic screen that displayed the words; _Oukages: Answer or Decline?_

He hesitantly reached up to press the 'answer' button. "My apologies, but I must take this call…" pressing the holographic button carefully, small lavender versions of the Oukages appeared sitting by their desks eating fruits. Gādonā sweat-dropped anime style. "Oukages, is there anything you want?" He asked quietly turning to step out. "Are you in another village?" Awoi asked, suddenly very strict. "And without our permission, too? _Gādonā!"_ Iowa breathed in disbelief. Gādonā smile unsettling. "Oukages, please, I didn't mean anything by this. You see, there were a few leaf ninjas on my porch, and I just so happened to take them home when they asked me to guide them back to the Hidden Leaf." He explained. Iowa and Awoi blinked. "You're at the Hidden Leaf? An entirely different village?" Awoi questioned. "How's it like? Did the people react to you?" Iowa asked right after her husband. "Um, yes; I am at the Hidden Leaf. I'm speaking with their Hokage right now, and, no, no one reacted indifferently. No need to worry, Oukages, everything's fine." He spoke softly. The Oukages breathed out in relief, and beamed. "Well, then, put us on maximum and let us meet 'em!" Iowa said excitedly, hugging Awoi as the two stood. Gādonā became calm, and smiled brightly. "Of course..." he looked at the Hokage, finally relaxed. "Is it alright if the Oukages, leaders of my village, speak with you for a bit? They're really excited with the whole meeting new people and such." He claimed. Tsunade thought for a few minutes, and shrugged. "Alright then…" putting the sake behind her desk, she stood as the Oukages were placed on maximum, and they were in their full size, but still holographic. Iowa and Awoi smiled at Tsunade, who returned the nice gesture. "I'm Lady Tsunade; fifth Hokage of the Leaf." She stated firmly. "Awoi; husband of Iowa, here, and we're the Oukages –rulers of the Hidden Music." Iowa rested her head on Awoi's shoulder, seeming somewhat curious. "I'm curious of you, Tsunade." She informed. "we should definitely meet one day." Lady Tsunade smiled, and sat down as the hologram began to fade.

"Oh, right, and Gādonā; when you get back, you have a C-11 mission!" Awoi updated.

Once the holographic leaders vanished, Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "A C-11 mission? I think you'd better get going for that one…" she said. Gādonā walked up to her smiling, and held out his hand with a smile. "I believe so too, Miss Lady Tsunade. Parting like this brings me sorrow, but I know we'll meet again." He quoted, shaking her hand firmly. "Of course, Gādonā." Said man turned to the others with a smile, and waved. "I'll see you all next time. Including you, Hinata-chan. I look forward to it~!Oh," he faced Lady Tsunade, and bowed saying. "Please note that I walked these kids home safely and epically." and with that, he shut the door behind him, and left.

Everyone began piling out, except for Naruto, who stayed. "Yes, Naruto?" Lady Tsunade queried. Naruto scratched his head. "Um… something I forgot to mention in the story was that…" he trailed off, and Tsunade raised a brow. "That?" she pestered. Naruto sighed. "Well, before we left, I happened to meet my older sister in the Oukages' office, but then I met her _and_ my older brother named after our dad, Minato. Apparently, they were both happened to get separated from me, and they kept going on about things that kind of scared me a bit." Tsunade was immediately interested when Naruto's eyes fell downcast and were full of sorrow. "They kept telling me that they would come with me and live with m like they've always wanted to, but couldn't because they couldn't. and they didn't even tell why. They just said they didn't want to hear the annoying words they'd hear if they were to walk round our village as themselves. But I just wanted to know if you ever heard of the names… Naruka… and Minato Uzumaki?" Tsunade furrowed her eyebrows as she rummaged through her brain to try and define the name. "…No, I don't believe I know those two." Naruto sighed once again, and turned to leave with his mind clouded with the few memories of his brother and sister. "Thanks anyway, grandma…" although the same nickname bothered her still, she decided to let it pass this time. _Naruka and Minato; Naruto's long-lost siblings…_ Naruto shut the door, and gloomily dragged himself home to go to bed. Gādonā had returned safely to the Hidden Music with no troubles, and it was a normal night for most people.

~.~.~

"…Wow... so… different…?"

"…This is where he lives? It's _definitely _different from our big ol' shack we live in with Uncle and Auntie Marche…"

"I know! I wonder how he would react to seeing us, though! Teehee~!"

"Yeah, we should surprise him in the morning!" a lion's tail stuck out of the mysterious person's lower body and wagged wildly with excitement.

"Yeah, we should!" a tiger tail stuck out of this one, and it, too, waved excitably.

"Let's go find a place to sleep, then. We have _lots_ to do tomorrow, Naruka!" the blonde boy said to his sister eagerly. Naruka nodded furiously.

"Alrighty, then, Minato-kun~! Un'yu~! But Naruka's so hungry for _cheeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssseeeecccccccccccccaaaaaaaaaa aakkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssss!_" she complained, stretching out the last word. Minato chuckled at his older sister's childish antics, before looking silly when his stomach made a loud gurgle to. He blinked twice, and said. "Well, I guess I'm hungry too…" he scanned the area, and looked up at the dark sky full of stars with a lavender-electric blue streak going through it.

"…I wonder if there's any spaghetti and cheesecake around?"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Uh oh –what are the two Uzumaki siblings doing now? Let's hope it's not something bad! But then again, they're Uzumakis for crying out loud! Of course it's going to be something bad! I just can't wait to see what it is~!


	3. Visits With Plenty of Secrets In Tow

I ONLY OWN OC'S!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"…Minato-kun…~" the lion related boy's animal ear twitched, and he rolled over, curling himself into more of a ball.

"…Minato…~"

The boy groaned in annoyance, and tried to curl deeper, as if that would shut out his sister's bothering wake up call.

"Minato…!" The tiger related girl was becoming annoyed.

"Come on, Minato-kun, wake up!" she commanded. Placing her hands on the boy's side, she began shaking him roughly.

"Wake up!" A vein popped out of his head, and he used his tail to whip her hands away. That's it. She was upset. She jumped 2 meters into the air, yelling, "_UN'YU~! THAT'S… IT…! I'LL MAKE YOU WAKE UP, EVEN IF THAT MEANS I HAVE TO HURT YOU FIRST!"_ She spiraled down like a spinning bullet with a thick block of cheese. "_UN'YU~! NARUKA STYLE: SPIRALLING BURGOS CHEESE CHOKE!"_

"Wake. Up! Wake. Up! Wake. Up! Wake. Up! Wake. Up! Wake. _UP!_" the tiger based girl was repeatedly shoving the overly big slice of Mexican Burgos cheese into Minato's mouth while he made choking noises. "GAHRNIHG… HEGHK!" Minato kicked Naruka of off him with his foot, and she went rolling over to the silver railing, and stopped an inch away from the steel bars. Spitting the cheese out of his mouth, Minato looked at Naruka with annoyance, and spat, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?" Naruka stood on all fours as he was. "NO, AND YES! _YOU_ WERE THE ONE TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED –NARUKA WAS JUST GOING TO BE THE ONE TO DO IT!" Minato became irritated. "I OUTTA –!" He growled loudly like a lion while Naruka did so like a tiger, and they both lunged for each other. The two rolled around, biting each other on the sides, and the neck, and scratching, kicking, and all other things normal feline related animals/people would do. After a while of tussling, they stood on opposite sides, on all fours, breathing heavily. Minato and Naruka let out a breath, and then couldn't help but fall to the ground with laughter. "Alright, alright! Let's focus on surprising Naruto, now!" Naruka nodded happily, and she and Minato stood humanly. Walking over to the railing, they looked over Konoha. A breeze flew by. "Well, this is it…" Minato started. Naruka smiled softly as she gazed upon the village.

"… It is… Naruto-kun's home…"

"Yeah…" a question then came into Minato's brain. "Hey, wait a second…" Naruka looked up at him. "What's wrong, Minato-kun?" She asked. A dumb expression spread across the seventeen year-olds face. "How can we surprise Naruto if we don't know where he is?" Naruka stared for a bit, before an 'I-can't-believe-we-didn't-think-of-that-little-pr oblem-until-now' look stained her features. Naruka let her head drop painfully on the metal railing. "Oh…right…" she then stood tall with determination in her eyes. With on finger pointed upwards and her free hand on her hip, she declared, "Un'yu~! I have an idea!" Minato sweat-dropped at his older sister's behavior. "Right… and this is why our family's considered weird." He muttered low enough for Naruka not to hear. "Alright, then, so what's the plan?" Naruka grinned. "Well maybe we can go around asking people if they know where Naruto is!" Minato looked unsure. "Um… Naruka, I'm not so sure –"she cut him off. "Oh, come on~! I'm positive this'll work, trust me!" Minato sighed and of course, ended up going along with Naruka's idea.

~.~

"I told you this probably wasn't a good idea."

Minato and Naruka had pulled their animal ears and tails in, and were now walking through town. They had asked countless amounts of people if they happen to know where Naruto is, and failed horribly. Naruka and Minato jumped onto a roof, and sighed as they both swung their legs over the end and sat there. They both fell back so that they were now staring up at the bright blue sky. A sigh emitted for Minato once more as he combed a hand through his hair. "Okay, let's put our heads together and think;" he said. "If Naruto's related to us, which I believe he is, then like any other Uzumaki, he should have a fetish for a certain dish or desert. Like; you and cheesecakes, Auntie Marche with quesadillas, Uncle Marche with beef jerky, and me with spaghetti." He reasoned. Naruka looked thoughtful for a bit, then nodded. "Un'yu~… that's sounds about it. I want to say its ramen, since I remember that's what Naruto loved to eat. I wonder if when…_it_ happened, Naruto probably ended up changing…?" Naruka's eyes fell downcast, and a small amount of depression filled her eyes. Minato stared at his sister, and touched her cheek, letting the bad memories come back to him too. It was a silence as they kept that way, and Minato shut his eyes, before opening them halfway, and smiling softly at his sister, who still didn't bother to look at him despite his acts of comforting. "Hey, it'll be alright…" she didn't turn her head, but her eyes slowly moved to the left to look at him sadly. "… I'm sure Naruto didn't change much. I mean –sure, that was like… eleven years and a half for me, and thirteen years and a half for you, counting the years around…_it_… and altogether, it's been fourteen years, almost fifteen for me, and fifteen years for you, almost sixteen, but other than that; I think he's still head over heels for ramen." The two were frowning at each other, and Minato removed his hand, turning his head back up towards the sky. "…it's been long, then…" Minato moved his gaze back to his sister. "…too long." He agreed, clenching his fists, and then unclenched them all together. "But I won't dwell over it."

"…Well then… let's go find a ramen shop."

Minato looked over at Naruka, who was now sitting up and looking back at him with a small smile. "Let's do it." He agreed. They jumped down from the roof, and began walking further into town. A gasp was heard from a girl, and her two friends looked at her curiously, before doing the same as her when they saw who she was staring at. "Wow! He looks like the Third Hokage!" the one to the left pointed out with a blush. Naruka's eyes slowly started to furrow in annoyance. "I know… he's so cute!" The one on the right squealed. "Cute?" the girl in the middle humphed with a stuck up grin, and Naruka was now glaring. "Cute is for kittens. This one's a lion. He's _hot_!" she claimed. That did it. Growling, Naruka pounced onto the three girls and began roaring while scratching every inch of their bodies she could reach. Though, Minato seemed to be too intrigued by his delicious plate of random spaghetti that he was now scarfing down. "YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE PRISSY PRISSY PRINCESSES WITH YOUR DUMB FACES THAT DESERVES TO BE SRATCHED OUT! I OUTTA TEAR YOU TO SHREDS UNTIL NOBODY KNOWS WHO ANY OF YOU ARE ANYMORE! STARE AT MY LITTLE BROTHER LIKE THAT AGAIN, AND I'LL MAKE SURE YOUR ALL DEAD!" Naruka screeched. Minato finished eating his spaghetti, and burped. "Excuse me…" he muttered. Standing, he turned, and looked at Naruka tearing the girls' faces up. "Naruka!" said girl stopped, and looked back at her sibling with irritation obvious on her face. "Stop trying to play with those three, they are not a feline family!" he scolded. The annoyed expression stayed on her face, and she sulked as she reluctantly got off the three girls who ran away as soon as they could, crying. Minato stared after them, and looked over at the tiger resembling girl who had her back turned. "Naruka, that was mean…" he commented. "Not if they deserve it." She retorted. Sighing, Minato scanned the area, and was happy when he saw a ramen shop. "Hey, look; a ramen shop!" Naruka looked in the direction Minato was pointing, and was glad to see a small ramen shop. "Un'yu~! Let's go check it out!" She said. Before they could make a movement, Naruka then added, "If you carry me on your back!" Minato stopped dead in his tracks, and fell to the ground anime style. A minute went by, and he abruptly stood, and started yelling. "_REALLY!? IT COULDN'T HURT YOU JUST ONCE TO GO SOMEWHERE WITH ME ON YOUR OWN WITHOUT NEEDING TO BE CARRIED!? WHAT ARE YOU, A BABY!? COME ON!" _he yelled in anger. Naruka sulked, and crossed her arms. "I'm not moving until you carry me!" she stated firmly. Minato's right arm twitched. Twitch. Twitch, twitch. "_UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_ Minato groaned loudly as he walked over and placed his older (heavy) sister onto his back, piggy-style. The two Uzumaki siblings scrambled over to the shop excitedly (or at least Naruka was), and entered.

"Hi! Welcome to –"the old man stopped when he saw the two stacked on top of each other.

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"WHAT IS THIS!? SOME CHILDISH TEENAGERS TRYING TO MAKE A STATEMENT OR SOMETHING  
!?" He yelled. Minato and Naruka sweat-dropped. "Um… n-no, it's –"the man cut Minato off. "Then why are you cosplaying as Minato, the Fourth Hokage, carrying a girl on your back!?" He questioned. "Um… sir –"Naruka was cut short by the angry man. "AND YOU; WEARING SUCH REVEALING CLOTHES!" The man suddenly gasped, and then became even more furious. "_HOW DARE YOU!?" _He roared. "_WHAT MAKES YOU TWO THINK YOU CAN DRESS UP AS THE FORMER HOKAGE AND MAKE THEM LOOK BAD BY MAKING IT LOOK LIKE HE CHEATED ON HIS WIFE!?" _Minato and Naruka were so stunned; they were frozen and kept absolutely quiet. Bad move. "Can't talk, eh?" he pulled out a frying pan and sauce pot, and the Uzumaki siblings looked at him with deadpan. "…Seriously?" Minato started as he slid Naruka off his back. She raised an eyebrow with a bored look. "Un'yu~… you really believe stupid kitchen utensils would actually scare us away?" She questioned. The man was angered further, and put the frying pan back, returning with an opened container full of…

"_EEEEEEEKKKKKKK! UN'YU~! WATCH OUT, MINATO-KUN; IT'S HOT GRITS!"_ Naruka screeched as she hid behind the lion-based boys' body. "_THEN WHY ARE YOU PUTTING ME IN FRONT!?" _He yelled. A brown haired girl came in with some pills and a cup of water. "Oh yeah, and dad; don't forget your medicine." She said.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HH!" _Naruka and Minato had already run out the door. "THAT'S RIGHT, SCRAM!" The old man stepped out of the small shop and raised a fist threateningly at the two teens who ran for dear life.

~.~.~

"That… was… _horrifying!_" Minato panted.

They were now hiding in a dark alleyway near the ramen shop. "I…know!" Naruka agreed. She sighed, as did Minato, and shook her head. "I don't get why he got all upset. I mean –did he ever think of the actual Hokage and who could possibly be his sister?" Minato sweat-dropped. "But… I'm not dad, nor am I the Hoka–"Naruka cut him off. "Shush Minato and let your sister dream!" She scolded. Minato banged his head on the brick wall behind him. "God, what's wrong with my sister?" he muttered, making the vein in Naruka's head pop out. Sighing again, she then said, "Okay, we really need to get back in the ramen shop. Apparently, he won't let us in if you still look like Dad and I look like a girl who came out of a themed rated R strip club." The lion-boy raised an eyebrow. "Okay and we're going to solve that how?" He asked. "I don't know, _you're _the intelligent one here! You come up with the answer!" she whisper-yelled fiercely. Minato began rubbing his temples. "Alright… so I believe I know a way to easily resolve this conflict…" he began. Naruka became excited. "… dress-up!" the tiger related girl blinked, and grinned with a nod. "Dress-up!"

~.~.~

The two walked into the ramen shop stacked up on each other. They wore a long black buttoned up cloak with a hood, and Naruka had her hair down in a low pony tail, while wearing black non-see-through shades, with a black fishnet veil covering her face. She cleared her throat, catching the old man's attention. "Um… I'd like a bowl of ramen, please. Make it teriyaki. With cheesecake slices made in thin shapes of circles, please." She ordered, making an attempt to deepen her voice. Minato became irritated. "Naruka! You call that a man voice! Besides, this is not the time to be thinking of food!" He scolded lowly. "And –and ew!" he added afterwards to the sound of cheesecake and ramen mixed together. The old man looked at her, puzzled, and reluctantly made the bowl of ramen. "You're pretty tall." He stated. "How tall are you?" Minato and Naruka began panicking. "Um –_FIVE!" _Naruka yelled.

"– _SIXTEEN!_" Minato cried after her frantically.

"– _EIGHTY!"_ the tiger female hollered.

Realizing their mishap, they began panicking more as Naruka scratched her head. "Um –"she gruffly cleared her throat, noticing she accidently used her regular voice. "I'm… 5 meters… and, uh, sixteen plus eighty centimeters…" Ichiraku, the name of the ramen maker, raised an eyebrow questioningly at the stranger, and said, "Alright, then… go ahead, please, take a seat! I'm sure eating while standing up isn't that comfortable!" he insisted, making Minato peeved off. _If only we could switch places right now, you blockhead! I bet __**then**__ you wouldn't say something as stupid as that!_ He complained to himself, grunting ever so quietly as he shifted Naruka's position on his now aching neck. "Well, here's your ramen. Sorry there's no… cheesecake slices in there, but…" he trailed off, and Naruka bolted towards the seat –almost falling off Minato –and forced themselves into an awkward sitting position. Minato's head was squished into Naruka's lower intestines, and _way_ to close to where he does _not_ want to be. Blushing, he squeezed his eyes shut and restrained the frustrated grunt from leaving his mouth. _I __**hate**__ my life._ He thought bitterly. Noticing the absence of cheesecake slices, she became furious, and started banging her hands on the counter like a child. In her 'deep and manly' voice she continuously yelled, "_CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE! CHEESECAKE!_" Panicking, the man frantically yelled for the brunette. "Ayame! Quickly, find this man some cheesecake! AND DON'T ASK WHY, JUST DO IT PLEASE!" Ayame looked at him questioningly, and hesitantly ran off to find cheesecake. "DO IT! DO IT FOR YOUR DADDY!" He called after her. "HEY!" Ichiraku looked at Naruka. "HOW DARE YOU!? I'M NOT A _MAN!_ I'M A… _MANLY _MAN MAN!" oh how bad Minato wanted to face-palm himself at her ridiculousness right now. _I knew I should've been on top…_ he uttered to himself mentally. Once Ayame stepped in with different types of cheesecake in her hand, Naruka pounced on her, taking her down to the ground.

"Un'yu~! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The female, Ayame, stared; puzzled at Naruka. Apparently, their disguise plan was completely messed up because of Naruka. So Minato was exposed, and on the ground flat on his stomach, glaring daggers at Naruka. And Naruka was eating cheesecake.

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"_YOU TWO AGAIN! WHY ARE YOU BACK, YOU IDIOTIC COSPLAYERS!?" _Ichiraku enquired loudly. Minato sat up and frantically waved his hands around. "N-no, s-sir, s-s-see you've g-got it all wrong!" he said. "_I'VE GOT NOTHING WRONG, SO GET __**OUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!**__" _Minato and Naruka immediately bolted out of the ramen shop and down the street (while Naruka ate her cheesecakes) as Ichiraku threw pans, pots, and etcetera at them on their way out. They bent over, breathing heavily. Once their breath was caught, with a sigh, they began walking again. Minato rubbed his neck. "Alright, so that didn't work." He specified. Naruka let out an exasperated wail, and bent forward with her arms drooping, before straightening up. "We'll have to come up with a new plan. After I eat spaghetti."

Four grown men shamelessly eyed Naruka with their smirks, making the poor girl shiver and try to burry herself in Minato's back. Seeing this, Minato glared at the men, and started to growl lowly. "Who the heck are these people staring at?" he snarled. Naruka meekly muttered with disgust, "…me." As soon as the first memory from their past replayed itself in Minato's head, he automatically charged for the four men –unknowingly switching out into his cyborg form. All of the men were shocked to see Minato's high-tech mechanic right arm, including the fingers and such, and his matching left red camera eye, and right leg. Shiny metal replaced some small parts of his skin, being proved by the thin metal ring lining up with the skin around the middle of his neck, and a squared piece on his right check going under the chin some. Nails were seen as they made small ringing noises while going in and out of their places where they kept the metal interacted with Minato's skin at a fast pace. "You're all _DEAD!"_ His right arm turned into a small cannon, and thrusting his arm forward, three identical spears of four feet shot out. The chains keeping it bound to the inner works of his arm jingled with the rough movement, meanwhile the nails picked up the pace, showing that Minato was definitely ticked. Naruka gasped, quickly tried to find a way to hurry and stop him despite her panic. "Un'yu~! Uh – Tiger's Paw!" a translucent tiger paw appeared, and hurriedly grabbed Minato, and helped Naruka sprint faster than normal towards the mountain with the Hokages' faces carved on it. They began running up the large mountain, and Naruka said, "That wasn't very kind, Minato-kun…" she said. He simply pouted with an annoyed look. "They were _shamelessly_ staring at you in a way I simply didn't like." Naruka rolled her eyes at this, and Minato furrowed his brow (since the metal went past where his other eyebrow should be) with a frown. "Seriously, Naruka," his camera eye began making clicking and churning sounds, telling Naruka that he was zooming in and focusing his camera eye on her face so it didn't look like five Narukas to him.

"You're my flesh and blood. So if they're staring at your womanhood, then they're staring at my manhood. And I don't appreciate that, because they never asked my permission to stare at us like that." Naruka sweat-dropped, and sighed. "_CAW!_" A swarm of crows were flying above, and Minato and Naruka became slightly nervous. "What's with all these birds…" she muttered worriedly. "I don't know…" Minato said earnestly. "_CAW!"_One swooped down and decided it wanted to poke at Minato's camera eye and its friend did that to Naruka's head. "Aye –!" Minato tried to shoo the bird away, but failed. Naruka did the same. "Un'yu~! Stop, stop, that hurts birdie!" the tiger paw disappeared, and they started tumbling down the humongous mountain, falling 60 meters down. "AH –IE –OMF –ARGH – I – HATE – MY – MESSED – UP – LIFE – IE!" Minato grunted out in agony with every hard, painful thump they made against the rocks. Tears streamed down Naruka's face as her hair came loose and twigs, pebbles, and leaves started to entangle themselves in Minato and Naruka's hair and scratch up their faces. "UN – YU – THIS – IS – SO – NOT – FUN – ANY – MORE!" She whined. Suddenly, they both fell onto the hard ground, and Naruka's hair started to smell weird. Minato sniffed with closed eyes, sniffed again, and sniffed again, perplexed, when he smelt the aroma of something burning. He immediately bolted onto his feet when he heard Naruka shriek, and panicked once he saw the flames at the bottom of her hair. _She hit a campfire._ Turning his arms into a cannon-like hydrant, he began shooting the foam you'd see in fire hydrants at the edges of the long blonde hair, and then Minato put out the campfire simply out of annoyance for making his sister's hair burn.

He started spraying each person gathered around the campfire with a look of semi-annoyance. "Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Good? Nah I'm just kidding –bad. You should be ashamed of yourselves. This is what people like Elvis has to go through, or Michael Jackson; but we didn't come to 'heehee'. Come on, Naruka, let's go." Naruka glared daggers at the campers (who backed away in fear) and was _fuming_. Her eyes were wide with anger, and Minato sighed, and picked Naruka up bridal style. The two were now roaming through town, and noticed the Hokage's building, where Lady Tsunade was –sadly, they couldn't go ask her where Naruto was because it was already late. There was a silence as neither Uzumaki spoke. Minato fixed his eye and camera eye on the ever so lightly twitching Naruka who clung to his torso.

"…It's dark…" She muttered.

A single tear from her left eye stained Minato's jacket, and he exhaled. Looking up at the sky, he finally noticed it was dark out, and chills ran up his spines. Although there was more fear rather than anxiety and annoyance, the lion-merged boy still felt the screws rummaging up and down at a quick steady pace underneath the layers of tissue creating his newly gained face. Cold air prickled against his skin, and fear rose slightly more –making him clench Naruka in his arms and squish her to her chest. That was also simply to try and calm her down; she was trembling and silently crying. His right arm started vibrating, and Naruka felt it, so she climbed out of Minato's arms so he could answer the cellphone embedded in his mechanic parts. Minato immediately gripped onto Naruka's wrist tightly with his free hand, not wanting her to leave his sight at that time of day, and reassembled his mechanical arm. Once reassembled, a black cellular device shifted over and above so that it was visible in the middle of his arm. Minato used a small laser downloaded into his camera eye to select the 'answer' button on his phone, and a holographic version of Papaiya, his teammate and the one who makes Naruka's cheesecakes, appeared with a grumpy frown. Minato raised an eyebrow. "What's up?" He questioned. Papaiya was grouchily using his butcher knife hand to cut up some slices of soft bread while his soup hand was stirring a bowl of chocolate cake mix. "Well I just wanna tell you that I attacked the Math teacher, Mrs. Erg, again. You know, that zombie dude?" At the very mention of their bland Math teacher, Minato was suddenly very interested in the turning gears and wires that made up of his arms, even though he already knows how they all work. "Okay, what about him?" He pestered, easily fed up with the conversation. "Yeah, well, he sent me to the principal's office, and once again; all Ms. Jeff said was: Get back to class, and tell Minato he's suspended for 6 months."

"_WHAT!?"_

Abruptly recognizing Naruka's scream high in the Air, gradually fading, he began to feel sick once he realized that he accidently threw her out of outrageous irritation. Freaking out, he hung up in Papaiya's face, and sprinted off on all fours in Naruka's direction, going 10 meters in only about 3 minutes. Minato came upon a small terrain where he found Naruka on the ground wiping dirt of her outfit with a pouty look. She glared up at him, and said, "Un'yu… boy, I am Naruka June Uzumaki. I, as your big sister who is responsible for you when out of adult supervision, outta spank you with my mechanic arm. Help me up, you!" Sighing, he gave her an apologetic look while helping her up. "Naruka, I'm really, really sorry about throwing you like that. I seriously didn't mean it." She growled irritably, and pulled her arm away. The small grass covered terrain had a large clear lake and a small wooden dock, and the moonlight glistened off of it brightly. Naruka opened her mouth to speak before; they both sensed a presence looking at them. Pulling out their tails and ears, they got on all fours in defense-mode, growling lowly; ready for whatever was to come. Crunching noises were made as some being came closer, and they were surprised to see a pink haired konoichi with green eyes. She blinked. "…Are… you two…?" Naruka and Minato immediately stood, retracting their animal parts, and Minato cleared his throat. "Um… I'm sorry, but the last time we met, I didn't catch your name. I'm pretty good with his faces," Minato and Naruka shared a secret glance at each other, "but I'm austerely unable to recognize a face without hearing the name." He explained, looking back at the young ninja along with his sister. Blinking once more with curiosity, she replied, "Eh… my name's Sakura Haruno. I was with that guy with the bull horns..." Sakura's eyes brightened up as she recalled Naruka and what she had said. "You; you're the girl who called the man with horns sensei. What's your names again?" She asked politely. Minato scratched his head, and Naruka answered powerfully, "Naruka and Minato Uzumaki. Do you know where we can find Naruto?" Sakura blinked for the third time that day. "Oh yeah, he just went home. You know where it is, right?"

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Minato and Naruka fell. "Um…" Minato rubbed his head while he and his sister stood from the ground. "…we did… but then we forgot." Naruka finished. Sakura sweat-dropped. "Yep, definitely Naruto's family…" she muttered quietly. Sighing she smiled with furrowed brows, and said, "No worries, I'll lead you two there. Besides –all you people from… On…kalu? Onmahu? Yuutau?" Minato's brow twitched and he resisted the urge to turn his arm into a stump and sucker punching her. "Ongaku. It's Ongaku." He stated with annoyance. Having her memories refreshed, Sakura smiled, and said, "Right, thanks for reminding me! I hope you don't mind, but I'll be asking some questions along the way!" Sakura began sprinting, and Naruka followed after. Minato sighed, and mumbled, "Great; questions… exactly what I need for a shortage-free night…" after that, he sprinted off after them.

~.~

"So, Naruka, Minato; what are you two doing here in Konoha?"

_Spaghetti's a friend… not food… spaghetti's a friend… not food… spaghetti's a friend… not food…_ Naruka sighed at this. "Un'yu~… poor Minato-kun's trying so hard to be a big boy and control himself and his daily hormones! Oh, don't worry Minato-kun; big sis Naruka-chi's proud of you!" Growling lowly, Minato pulled Naruka by the hair, and gripped her head in a headlock. "_You need to shut up, sometimes, Naruka! I don't have hormones!"_ He was practically backing up any air from reaching her sisters lungs, and yet, she still choked out, "H-he's even g-going into… d-denial –_EEK!_" Naruka shrieked when Minato tightened his grip. He immediately stopped when Sakura turned back to look at them, and she reaised an eyebrow when Naruka started gasping for air and started coughing all the while Minato smirked. "Oh, well we're here simply to pay our little brother a visit." Once Naruka caught her breath, she then added, "Un'yu~ we… we really do owe him. I can't wait to see Naruto-kun's expression when we explain a few things to him." Sakura smiled, and thought of another question. "Right. So how long has it been since you two spent Naruto?" It was a long silence, and Sakura was slightly confused to see Naruka bowing her head slightly, and Minato looking in the other direction, seeming slightly agitated. Both Uzumakis seemed upset with their frowns, and Sakura sighed. _Personal_, she noted in her head. They arrived at Naruto's house, and Sakura stopped right at Naruto's front door. Naruka and Minato seemed a bit interested with the dark apartment. "Well…" Sakura stared at the door. "This is… where Naruto lives." Minato and Naruka beamed at Sakura, and she blushed to some extent when Minato thanked her. "Thanks a lot, Sakura. You helped us a lot today; I'm pretty sure if we hadn't been lucky enough to run into you, we would've been stuck wandering around the village all day! Thanks!" She smiled, and waved as she turned to head back to her own place. "Tell Naruto I said I'll meet him tomorrow at the training fields at one!" and with that, she was gone, and Naruka and Minato stared at the door.

"…Well..." Minato looked over at his smiling sister. "Let's go surprise Naruto-kun…"

They knocked on the door, and waited. A long silence followed.

_Knock, knock, knock… _

Still silence.

_Knock, knock, knock…!_

More silence.

_Knock, knock, knock, knock!_

The animal resembling teens quickly got impatient, and Naruka breathed out gruffly. "Un'yu~! Hasn't Naruto ever learned to answer the door when someone knocks on it!?" She complained. Minato exhaled, and rubbed his temples. "I know… alright, let me give it a shot…" activating his right arm, he balled up his steel hand into a fist, and knocked on the door harshly.

_BANG, BANG, BANG!_

Silence was the only response, and Minato automatically became peeved off. "Alright then, Naruto, let's play Royal; you'll be the hostage, Naruka's the queen, and I'll be the Royal Demolisher. Just like old times…" The 17 year old turned his arm into a bazooka, and Naruka stared at him as if he had gone mad. "Un'yu~! Minato-kun!" she cried with worry and uncertainty in her voice. "Um… are you really sure that's a good idea? Besides, this is an apartment, so it's obviously in an apartment building where plenty of other folk may stay, so –"Minato cut her short with his harsh deadpan look filled with slight annoyance evident on his face. "Quiet; intelligence doesn't always suit you. A man… lion… cyborg… metal thing needs to do what… the thing's gotta do." Naruka knew he didn't really mean any negativity by it, but nonetheless, it still made her frown hearing him refer to himself like that. _Makes me think of the Cavern… _the youthful 19 year old's face scrunched up with all sorts of negative emotions on her face. _If only… if only…!_

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!**_

The sudden sound of the weapon going off made Naruka jump and let out a small shriek. Glancing at Minato, she felt her heart wrench when his face was also clouded with emotions: Anger, depression, regret, dread, and both types of pity; pity for another, which she already knew was herself, and then self-pity, directed at all the sad things that had happened to him, too. He then spat coldly, "If you're going to remind yourself about it, then at least don't show your emotions. I know; _if only_." Naruka whimpered quietly, displeased at the rudeness her younger brother had given her and the blackness slowly eating away at the white in his eyes. His eyes were changing into the Macho Ya Uhaba, which was basically something everyone in the village also shared. It stood for "Eyes of Scarcity" in Swahili, and although Naruka already knew what it meant and that the word was 'scarcity', she knew too well that it was meant to be called something different. The Macho Ya Uhaba changes people, and knowing the effects it takes on Minato, she was beyond scared. Naruka silently began praying that it wouldn't take full effect, knowing what would happen if it did. She exhaled in relief when the white quickly returned to his eyes, making them go back to normal. Out of the blue did an angry Naruto, half-sleep, appear. "What. Is. _This!?_" He snapped at the large hole in his doorway. Minato narrowed his eyes at Naruto with irritation, and took a step closer; roughly putting a hand on Naruto's head and leaning down some so he was at eye level. "Isn't it obvious, little brother Naruto? We're here to visit for a short while. Not staying a week or whatever, but you should be grateful nonetheless that we came to spend missing sibling quality time with you." Minato confirmed. Shaking away the bad thoughts, Naruka beamed at Naruto, and she nodded furiously. "Un'yu~!" She pounced on Naruto, and tackled him into a fierce bear hug. "Naruka missed Naruto so much! It's only been a couple hours, but STILL!" Minato covered his ears at Naruka's loud whining, and hit her on the head with his now human fist. "Ow! Un'yu~ Minato-kun, that hurt~!" She complained. The jinchuriki was beyond stunned at the sudden appearance of his older siblings, and then to top it off –the causality they both had in the way they behaved. Somehow, it still kinda bothered him at how normal they were acting; they make it seem as though this was an everyday thing. Naruka smiled at Naruto, and sighing, Minato nevertheless gave a heartfelt smile as Naruka did, and raised an eyebrow. "Won't you invite us in?" Blinking, he immediately thought of the big mess in his house that stayed there for weeks. "Uh –wait here one sec." with that, he ran back into his apartment, and slammed the door shut. Rummaging was heard, and all sorts of other noises that made the two teens outside a bit curious, and Naruto finally returned with a nervous smile. "Uh… come on in; make yourselves at home."

~.~

Naruka looked around the small, cramped apartment. Knowing their somewhat manners, they knew not to judge someone's living style. And so only one could hope Naruto can learn to accept his older sibling's living style…

Naruto had showed them the bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen, and finally stopped at the door to his room. "Um… this… this is my room. Like all the other rooms, this one's pretty small." Minato and Naruka smiled reassuringly for about the millionth time that one little night, and Minato replied, "Calm down, Naruto; no need to fret over your older siblings. We've spent time with you before, you know." Smiling in return, Naruto opened the door, and walked in. the room was small, as he said, though nice and clean (since he did last minute cleaning). Minato and Naruka walked in, and Naruka jumped onto Naruto's bed, laughing. Shutting the door behind him, Naruto couldn't help but laugh a bit too. He walked over to the bed and sat, letting Naruka instantly grip him in another one of her Lovey-Huggy-Attacks-That-Kill-People, as Minato likes to call it. He considered hugging her back, but suddenly all the thoughts he had back when he first met them reoccurred. "Wait…stop…" he pulled away, confusing Naruka, and backed away. For a second, he thought he saw fear in her expression, but it went away as soon as it came. The 16 year old didn't stop until his back hit the wall, and he slid down, having his knees pulled up close to his chest. He gave Naruka a full body scan, somewhat still poking at the suspicion, worry, and aggravation naturally embedded in Minato, and then did the same to Minato, making the secretly cy-borg boy feel more at ease knowing that Naruto didn't think wrongly of Naruka. I mean –in his and some others opinion, her choice in clothing are cute and tropical, but revealing. He always worries that she'll attract the wrong type of attention in those clothes. Naruto sighed. "Alright; I'm happy you're both here, but… why are you here, exactly?" His older siblings blinked, and looked at each other, and turned back to him.

"Un'yu~… well, we really just wanted…" Minato finished Naruka's short explanation. "…to drop by and spend some time with you again, Naruto." Said boy blinked, and looked at Naruka as she spoke up again. "Yeah, I mean –it's been forever since the last time we spent time together, Naruto. And now that we've reconnected, I really want us to do that again. At least to just feel the same joy I felt whenever it was the three of us, at least one more time." She admitted, making Naruto blush. He scratched his head. "Yeah, okay, I guess that would make sense. But… I still wanna know how we got separated. What happened? Why did we get separated? How come I didn't know or remember any of this?" He questioned. Pain filled both Uzumakis' faces, though Minato's had extreme anger meshed into it too. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he gave Naruka a threatening glare that obviously scared her to the near point of death. "Don't speak. Just go to sleep." He commanded icily. Naruto became confused and annoyed. "Hey, what –"

"Shut up."

The simple order was enough to send chills up Naruto's spine, and although it scared him a bit too, he felt somewhat more curious than before. This was what he wanted to know; to understand. Naruto simply wanted to know what it was that no one in Ongaku seemed to want to talk about, and why. "This is between me and Naruka. Just lie down, and go to bed. You, too, Naruto." Naruto immediately stood up and started yelling at Minato. "Wait a second –who're you!? You can't tell me what to do in my own –"

"Not here." Minato returned his glare to Naruka and coldly raised a brow. "Whatever do you mean?" he stated emotionlessly, fumigating Naruto more. Naruka trembled in the slightest way, and she spat, "You _know_ what I'm talking about, Minato, and I don't want to do it. Not here, not now, and not ever as long as we're outside of Auntie and Uncle Marche's hut." She shot him a certain look that read something Naruto couldn't understand. _Naruto doesn't need to know this… not now, not ever._ Minato kept his glare, though it also said something back in reply this time. _Just do as I say, and go to bed. Convince Naruto to do so too. I'm gonna go cool off, I won't be long; the last thing I want is to lash out on you in front of Naruto. Unlike you, Papaiya, Zei, Slend-sensei, or Auntie and Uncle Marche, he doesn't know how to calm me down._ Breathing out once more, she smiled sadly, yet gratefully at Minato, making Naruto confused as he returned the smile. Standing, the teen that looked like a replica of the fourth Hokage simply walked out of the room, and shut the door behind him, leaving Naruto and Naruka alone. Naruto looked at her suspiciously, and asked, "What was that?" She simply gazed at him, and smiled. "I'll explain that way off in the future, Naruto." She giggled. "Come to bed please~! Un'yu~, you should know Naruka is not going to sleep on the couch or the floor so it's either the bed with your sister or an uncomfortable place for the night!" Naruto frowned. "How is it that you two just got here and you're already filling up my apartment with weirdness?" he complained as he reluctantly climbed into bed with Naruka, who turned her back to him, curled up in a ball in an animal-like way under the sheets. He sighed, and turned off the light. Glancing at his sister one more time, he fell asleep.

~.~

Minato sat on the balcony, staring closely at every dark corner in the small village that seemed to give him chills. He sighed, and balled up his right hand into a fist, banging it on his head. "Idiot…Idiot…Idiot…" he mumbled. Stopping, he sighed once more, and then let out a humorless chuckle. "It's so funny, mom, dad; how I happen to do that a lot with Naruka now." Sadness was etched into his eyes, and he smiled a melancholy smile as he felt tears begin to pile up in his blue eye, with black oil in the other. "… I bet you didn't expect you eldest children to turn into complete freaks, right? And you never wanted us to be this way, though; we were just born that way. Once again, I… I'm sorry…" he doubled over in pain. Not physical pain, but emotional and mental pain. Its times like those that made him loathe himself. He didn't like the things he'd do and say to his dear sister Naruka. "…I'm sorry…" he whispered, all the tears of water and oil endlessly beginning to pour down his face and onto his clothes. "… I hate this…" he admitted. "… I hate myself… every time I do it… over and over again…" placing his hand over his heart, the memory of what he and Naruka had did that very happy day lightened his mood some. "… Your boy needs help… and he's still receiving some from everyone in his new village…" he pointed out. "…I love Naruka. She's the best older sister I could ever have. I just…" He choked down the sob that was ready to emerge from himself. "… I just wish… I could protect her…" he felt angry with himself for that thought. "…But… but how can I do that… if I'm the one hurting her still…?" Minato looked up at the sky, and said with pure determination. "Naruto won't know. He doesn't need to know. He already thinks we abandoned him to go live some fantasy life, but although that only disturbs me, I'd rather him know a pretty lie rather than a sad truth about what actually happened. I really just don't get…" his heart warmed at the thought of his beaming older sister. "… I don't get how she didn't leave me all alone yet despite the things I do to her. She's so strange." Chuckling at this, he got up, and started to head back inside. "…so strange…" he continuously muttered cheerfully as he lay down on the couch, passing out 20 minutes afterwards.

~.~.~.~

Poor Minato… with those thoughts and beliefs, I'd say you really do need some help, but other than that, still good. You're still so very awesome.


End file.
